Growing Pains
by TT Snim
Summary: When Kakashi asks Naruto to help him on a lowly C-class mission the impetuous teen finds him self in a dangerous S-class situation he was never prepared for, with a task only he can accomplish, as Kakashi's sanity lies in his hands. Non Yaio
1. The Mission Request

I've had this on my computer for ages and I thought I'd toss it up here and work on it when I can't get my main story "The Fox And The Wolf" up in time. Growing pains is a less complicated, less involved, story that I hope will help me sharpen my writing skills as well as entertain you. So, till Fox n' Wolf is updated, enjoy this.

Please note that this story has NOTHING to do with Fox n' Wolf in ANY WAY. Thank you!

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**Growing Pains**

Chapter One: The Mission Request

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Naruto slammed in to the wall.

He'd been introduced to the wall in the usual way with a solid punch to the face and an air born flight that cleared nearly ten feet. The wall he was now slumped against was one of the sturdy outer walls that surrounded Hokage tower, had it been an inner wall he would have gone straight through it. Uneven plaster and wall patches were still clearly visible from his last air born journey in this room.

The impact and subsequent fall to the floor left a dazzling array of red stars and icy-hot pain racing about him. His jaw burned the most and it crackled in a bone jarring way. Half slumped he shifted and worked his jaw around experimentally. It popped and lighting hot pain soared through him from his teeth to his sinuses. As sure as the sun rose each day his jaw was broken.

Squinting through the agony Naruto glared venomously at the woman standing fist clenched on the other side of the room. Pink hair was waving in all directions as hot white sun beams fell all around her, illuminating her in dazzling patches of glittering gold and sparkling spring rose. Her eyes were a living pool of green, filled with rage and indignation, and glaring right back at him. There was a strange ethereal beauty to her, the same sort of ethereal beauty that surrounded a leopard as it was about to kill and eat you.

His hand lifted to hold his now shattered face and he tried to stand. This had been the hardest she had hit him yet. The anger thinly veiled, hotly directed towards him, still promise another hit should he agitate her further. Defeated wholly by her vicious evil look he slumped back down and contented him self to cradle his head. He could feel his bones already mending from the Demon Fox with in, yet the healing would not be complete for hours, possibly days.

To add, literally, insult to injury, she spoke in an icy cold voice. "I TOLD you to shut the hell up, didn't I?"

He tore his eyes away from her and looked at the man standing just a little bit further away, hoping for some sympathy. Kakashi was expressionless, save for a very slightly raised eyebrow, and clearly not in the least bit concerned with the events. In his hands he held a rather large scroll that contained information on their next target, an S-class ninja who had abandoned Konoha only six months earlier.

It was partly this missing ninja's fault Naruto had been punched in to a wall. In stead of training, or searching for his own team mate Sauske -a missing S-class ninja in his own right- they were to trek off in to the very near woods and try to talk the ninja in to returning to Konoha. There would be no fighting, no training, and no interesting recovered objects or any thing. The mission was boring, with out apparent gain, and in Naruto's mind a complete waist of time and resources. Even worse was while the ninja was S-class the mission was only a lowly C-rank, with out even the reward of good pay.

Children should have been sent on this mission.

Instead Kakashi had personally requested they go, a request he had fought with every thing hie had that wouldn't actually damage any thing. It was his protests, loud and demanding, that had convinced Sakura to send him sailing into the solid wall in the first place.

Now with his jaw far to painful to speak, and to miss-shaped to form words any way, he was forced to sit and be quiet. Naruto felt anger gnawing at him as he looked up at his placid team leader who had indirectly placed him here on his ass by volunteering them. Kakashi had gone on what could very well have been hundreds of S ranked missions, making this mission just as much an insult to the white haired copy nin as it was to Naruto him self. So why he had even asked to go, asked that they all should go, was a mystery.

The question of 'why' suddenly seamed more important than the answer 'no'. After all of that yelling and arguing maybe Kakashi actually had a good reason to want this mission.

For the first time that day he'd been forced to think. To really really think. It wasn't an action he was well versed in normally and now, with a moment to reflect, he realized a moment to gather thoughts before the argument could have saved him from such a sharp blow that had sent him to the wall.

Such was irony.

What had that old adage been? Hind sight was 20/20? Maybe he'd have to make a point to stop for thought more often. Kakashi HAD told him to keep his cool during the last mission and he'd worked on it, he really had, and maybe that had played as much a part in the success as all the fighting had. Still, that was then.

Sakura was slowly standing down, satisfied he had been cowed in to silence and submission and turned to the fourth person in the room, the Hokage. "Forgive the interruption."

Kakashi turned to her as well, his face still as unreadable as before. Only now that slightly raised eyebrow was back down where it normally sat.

Belatedly, very belatedly, Naruto realized Kakashi was even more stoic than ever. Hardly a flicker of emotion had touched the white haired teacher sense he had arrived – nearly on time- to the Hokage's office. It was a little troubling to consider.

"You are sure this is where he is?" Kakashi asked, looking the scroll over again.

"ANBU has him surrounded." She leaned back in her chair and folded her arms. "They are keeping their distance, as you requested."

Kakashi nodded. "Once we arrive at the first out look I'll dismiss the agents."

"All of them?" She asked. A pensive look washed over her face.

"Yes." His reply was flat and cool.

"Do you have a reason?"

"Yes." The scroll was shifted a little.

"Care to tell me what that is?" She probed. For several moments all three waited with baited breath for his reply.

A hollow silence filled the room, however, and tension started to fester in the air. If Kakashi could feel it he didn't show it. Instead he continued to look the massive scroll over slowly. After several maddening seconds Sakura glanced at Tsunade and Tsunade glanced back. Then, together they both glanced directly down at Naruto. Unease swept through him and he shrank back in to his jacket.

For a moment Naruto could almost FEEL their eyes boring in to him, but when he looked back up they were both staring at Kakashi again. The teacher was standing still as a statue and Naruto wondered if he was even breathing.

"Uh, Kakashi Sensi?" Sakura's voice was small and polite, a vast difference from her raging scream only minutes ago.

Kakashi turned to her after a hesitant moment. "Yes?" There was still no expression in his uncovered eye. The tension had grown in to a cold bubble of anxiety in Naruto. He would have screamed, demanding that Kakashi be more forth coming with information about this seemingly useless mission, but his jaw was still quite shattered.

"Do you have a reason you want to get rid of the ANBU back up?"

He lazily rolled the scroll back up and turned to point at Naruto. "Him."

The one word replies were starting to bother Naruto more than he could stand and he opened his mouth to speak. The action, snapped and with out thought, sent lightning bolts of pain through him. All he could manage was a trembling squeak. Tears percolated with out his consent, started to run down his cheeks and white haze filled his vision. He ducked his head under his arm to hide what had to have been a very unpleasant look on his face as well as a new roll of shame and horror at having cried because Sakura hit him.

Sakura. A girl.

He heard the very pink haired ninja team mate sigh and heavy foot steps approached him. He hoped against hope she wasn't coming to hit him again. To his surprise when he looked out from between his elbows she was crouched in front of him with what could have been a nearly apologetic look.

Or possibly indigestion.

Soft hands reached out and on instinct he pulled back.

"Hold still I just want to fix it." She sounded irritated and, hoping to avoid a second injury he lowered his arms. Her fingers skimmed his chin and he winced.

"Huh, I broke it this time."

He wanted to yell at her, yell things like 'yes you broke it you hit happy whore' or 'do you feel sorry now, you horrible witch'. The obvious state his jaw was in, however, kept him tight lipped. Or rather, as the case was, slack lipped in silence.

He settled for the meanest glare he could muster and hoped it looked intimidating. Instead of drawing back in fear like he wanted her to her hands rested on his face once more. That look of indigestion was turning in to a look of out and out heart burn. He half expected her to burp in his face.

A soft glow filled his vision rather than gas smelling of okanamiaki a soft vibration chilled the pain from his face. He let out a contented, pain free sigh.

"There, better?"

He nodded, his chin still cupped in her hands. All of that tension from before melted away and he wondered what he'd been so upset over to begin with.

She stood and as she moved he spotted Kakashi once more. The tension raced back. With out thinking he raised his finger to point at the white haired teacher. "_**YOU**_. . ."

Sakura raised her fist and he clamped his jaw shut. The action sent echoes of pain through him. Though the bones had mostly reknit the flesh around them was still tender.

He took a breath. _Think first, think first, Sakura will hit you. . ._

"Why did you point at me?" His words were a little strained, but they were quiet and calm. He felt just a little pride in his own restraint.

"Because you have a way with people." Kakashi said with the smallest of shoulder shrugs. His whole nonchalant attitude, now that Naruto was being quiet and thoughtful, did not rest well in Naruto's mind.

"A way with people...?" He'd spoken mostly to him self, trying to process this information, trying to understand what Kakashi meant, but found him self at a loss to the Copy Nin's logic. As if on some unheard and unseen cue Kakashi slid easily in to 'explanation mode'. This was some thing Naruto was happy to see as this was how Kakashi normally acted. He was the teacher, after all, and Naruto was his student.

"You have the power to change people's hearts, Naruto. You changed Gara from being a monster. You can talk to people." This time a strange sort of softness lit Kakashi''s eyes up for just a moment before the stony expression returned.

Naruto was once again unable to speak. Kakashi has said things like this now and then, but only in passing, an off handed remark Naruto had dismissed as nothing more than a 'heat of the moment' pep talk. He had no idea Kakashi was actually using that supposed quality tactically. He glanced over to Sakura, who was giving him a sort of blank expectant look, as if the whole mission was in his hands now. A quick glance at the Hokakge showed the same expression.

Naruto snorted and folded his arms. This was NOT his mission and he wanted as little to do with it as possible. "Gara was never a monster." He turned fully to Kakashi and took a breath. He knew what he was about to say might get him another punch, so he had to say it carefully. "I think this mission is a waist of time. If he's that dangerous then what good will talking to him do?"

That lone eye gazed at him for a long long moment before turning away. "Normally I'd say it was hopeless."

"Then why. . .?"

Kakashi turned back, some strange energy rolling off of him. "I believe you can reach him."

Naruto bit back a protest. Not so much to avoid the next blow from Sakura, but because some thing about Kakashi was different. The energy rolling of the teacher was an indescribable mix of tension and anxiety. But woven in the chakra was some thing lighter and Naruto had no idea what it could be.

There was an almost imperceivable moment where Naruto knew Kakashi wasn't demanding they go, he was asking. Naruto could walk away.

But he couldn't. Looking in to that emotionless face he felt obligated some how to try, even though he didn't believe in the mission at all. Even though some thing about Kakashi was different. Even though talk had never solved any of his problems before.

This man had to be some one special for Kakashi to be trying some thing so different and for acting so strange.

"So just who is this guy any way?"

The white haired ninja glanced away. "He was my father's sensi."

A ripple of some thing _cold_ passed through the room and just for a moment that tension from Kakashi swelled to an almost suffocating high before evaporating all together leaving an emotionless void.

Naruto had never felt such a thing from his teacher and did NOT wish to relive it. He let all remaining questions drop and glanced over at Tsunade. The older blond was biting the end of her thumb nail. For a moment she was watching Kakashi, then she locked eyes with him. She let her thumb go and cleared her throat.

"Are you willing to go on this mission or not Naruto?"

Yes. No. He didn't know any more. Suddenly he didn't know what to think or feel about it. "Yeah. I'll go." The moment he said it he regretted it. A dark foreboding welled up inside and he had to swallow it down to keep from blurting out he'd changed his mind.

"Good." Tsunade sat back and all at once the whole room was focused on her. As if a puppet pulled by unseen strings Naruto lined up with Kakashi in front of her desk. Sakura took a stand next to him. A new vibrancy passed between him and her and he stole a quick glance at her face. She was looking past him up to Kakashi with a small frown. She too must have felt the dark energy as well, he desided, and was glad it hadn't been just his observation. Nothing could be done about it now, however, all they could do now was move along with the mission. Foreboding or no.

"This man wrote many of our books on medical jitsu. He pioneered several of our more advanced healing techniques as well as a number of forbidden jitsus. He is extremely dangerous. Approach him with caution and if you do not believe you can make contact with him in a productive and safe manner abandon the mission. If he does not come back willingly do not try to capture him. You have the authority to use deadly force in any extreme you deem necessary for the purpose of self defense. Do you understand all of this?"

All three team members replied with a crisp 'Yes'.

"Good." She turned her cool blue eyes on Kakashi. "I want a FULL report as soon as the mission is over."

He gave her a small nod. "I will fill one out as soon as I am able."

"Very well. Good luck and dismissed."

Kakashi turned on his heal, Sakura following silently. Naruto hesitated, a question half formed in the back of his mind, but he couldn't clarify his thoughts enough to speak. "Latter Grandma Tsunade." He managed, then he hurried to catch up to the others.

The foreboding feeling churned darkly with in as the door closed solidly behind him.


	2. A Difference In Age

And here is chapter two! Hope you like it.

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**Chapter two: A Difference In Age**

The cool breezes of the forest did as much for Naruto's wound as the cursed fox that was trapped in side of him, and when they were half way to the old man's homestead deep in the trees it was almost pain free. He could talk freely now if he wanted to and only the fact that Kakashi was two full trees ahead prevented him from actually voicing that nagging question. That, and he still wasn't sure what he wanted to ask.

In the back of his mind he was replaying all the subtle details of Kakashi's demeanour. While he'd been forced in to a thoughtful silence they stood out rather splendidly in his mind. Not only had Kakashi personally requested Naruto on this mission, but he'd also come as close to on time as he ever had. He was still late, yes, but only by a minute or two. For the Copy-Cat ninja this was simply beyond abnormal.

The questions were clearing and forming more solidly in Naruto's head so he pushed past Sakura and came up next to his teacher and leader. "Oi, Kakashi Sensei."

The lone eye gave him a quick glance. "Yes?"

"This guy was your pop's sensei, right?"

Kakashi nodded once.

"So that means you know him pretty well, right?"

"I did." He said.

"So what happened?" Naruto asked as he leaped past as gnarled broken branch. "Why did he leave the village? Did some thing happen to make him angry?"

"I don't think it was one thing you can pin point." There was no emotion what so ever in the flat reply.

"There had to have been _something_. Did your dad do something to tick him off?"

For just a moment the White Haired Ninja faltered. His wrist bucked as he grabbed a branch. He had to throw him self forward to recover his momentum and keep from falling out of the lofty canopy. After another two steps on to a strong limb he squatted and stared out towards the direction they had been travelling. Naruto stood next to him, waiting. From behind them he could hear Sakura stopping as well.

Kakashi took a long moment to reply, but when he did there was still no inflections in his voice. "It wasn't my father's fault."

It wasn't the answer Naruto had been looking fore and he sighed, frustrated and more than a little worried. "Is he really that dangerous that Granny Tsunade would have him killed?"

"He is."

Naruto gripped the tree trunk he was holding a little tighter. "How long have you known him?"

"A long time." Was the quick reply.

Naruto looked ahead, past Kakashi, and bit back an agitated growl. The answerers were not what he wanted, and it frustrating that the information he wanted was being held from him. Especially since he was the one the mission hung on.

His jaw was better, but it was still tingling, and he did not wish to loose his temper and receive another blow. Leaning against the trunk of an enormous hard wood he thought over what he had, which was very little to say the least, in an attempt to understand what all of this was about. All he could come up with was that Kakashi either hated the man completely, or for some reason cared enough to be dragging them all along for this lowly C ranked mission.

Only that too didn't quite sound right. The mission was starting to not FEEL C Ranked.

He glanced back quickly and studied Kakashi's face for a second. It was still blank and stoic, but it was focused too. Slowly, and a bit belatedly, Naruto realised this was ALL Kakashi's idea.

"Kakashi sensei. . ."

"Lets keep moving." Kakashi moved forward fluidly, cat like, with ease and precision. It made his stumble moments ago stand out like an explosion in the dark.

Sakura gave Naruto a quick glance as she passed him, following their teacher's lead. He wasn't sure if she'd seen his slip up, but he hoped she had. He didn't want to be the only one to feel as though there was some thing wrong with the mission.

Naruto sprung forward, determined to do his best despite his feelings and concerns, but the more he thought bout what he'd seen and heard the more his instinct told him they were headed for trouble. Jiraya had always told him he needed to listen to the voices that whispered caution to him. It was sage advice in the truest sense and he decided to take it.

He stopped on a thin branch and waited for them to notice. It didn't take long. They bounded ahead a few dozen yards, then rounded back.

"What's the matter NOW?" Sakura demanded.

"That's what I'd like to know." Naruto replied as he hopped his way up next to Kakashi again. "I want some answers."

"About what?" Kakashi asked, still not registering any thing. He should have been agitated by the delays at the very least, but there was no show of any emotion in his actions to indicate he had any opinion of the progress what so ever. It was like he was exercising patience with his team, but at the same time it wasn't because there was an overwhelming aura o stress still radiating off of him. Feeling uneasy Naruto tried to pick his next words carefully.

"So who IS this guy any way? What does he want? Why did he defect?" They weren't the stellar questions he'd hoped for, but they weren't angry ramblings either.

Sakura gave a soft snort. "You don't know any thing at all huh?"

"I don't if people don't tell me!" He shot back, despite the pain.

"Well he's. . ."

Kakashi interrupted. "He was a man who was well known by the Hatake family. He was once very well liked." The silver haired ninja was looking out over the forest, his face turned away from them. Silence filled the air and only birds could be heard in the foliage.

"Did you know him personally?" Naruto asked after a moment. "Is that why you want to end this peacefully?"

There was that slow breath again from his teacher, like he was gathering unsure thoughts. "I never knew him that well." He turned towards them, still blank looking. "We should keep going." With that he leaped forward, Sakura followed. Naruto glared after them but held his tongue.

In minutes they approached the first ANBU post where Kakashi stopped only for a moment. They they were moving again, alone and with out back up. Naruto swallowed a knot that had formed in his stomach.

The rest of the journey was spent in silence and passed quickly, though uneasily. The forest gave way to a little over grown clearing with a ramshackle mansion sitting desolate in the weeds. The windows were mostly boarded up, and the ones that weren't looked like little beady black eyes.

Kakashi dropped to the forest floor with out any stealth and started to pick his way along a broken path towards the jagged hole where a door once had been. Naruto followed and gave the house a long look. Wood splintered around the opening like teeth and all at once Naruto thought the structure looked like a hungry lost animal. One of those well cared for animals that may have been a very spoiled pet once, but was now abandoned had gone completely wild. He'd seen dogs like that once and Kakashi had told him that dogs abandoned become vicious and ugly from all the fights they get in to.

Naruto wondered if the house had ever been through a fight. It looked like there were weapon marks in the thin walls and large scratches on the hand rails on the porch. He took a step on the old stairway and the wood groaned like it was about to give.

"Daichi." Kakashi's voice rang out a fresh clear contrast to all the decay and rot. It cut the air sharply, slicing the hot, bright, muggy air.

Sakura came up behind Naruto and took a small sniff. "I smell tea."

"He's here." Kakashi said with a small nod. "Stay out here, both of you, and keep an eye out for any thing suspicious. He knows we are here and has scene before we stopped to talk the first time."

"How?" Sakura asked, wide eyed.

Kakashi was already stepping in through the door. "Clones, possibly, or his birds." He stepped all the way in and was swallowed up in the dark almost instantly. Naruto could track his movements by the ever fading moaning of the floorboards. But soon Kakashi was far enough in that the house muffled the sounds all together. For a moment Naruto and Sakura stood in an awe-full silence.

"What do you know about this guy?" Naruto asked, desperate to glean any information from her before he had to meet the man face to face.

She looked up, a little startled, as if she'd been expecting an attack. "As you know he was a medical ninja. I've read from many of his books. He was a very wise man, though some of his teachings are a little outdated."

"Kakashi is acting strange. I don't like it." Naruto glanced up at the sky through the trees. Even the tall and sturdy trees looked old and run down here. The sky seemed a little less blue some how. There were no animal sounds.

"He refused to go on Missions after Kakashi's father died." She said slowly. "At least that's what I could gather. I'm not sure."

Soft humming floated up from the cool darkness with in the old structure. It was soothing.

"So... What does that mean to Kakashi sensei?" Naruto asked as he dropped down to a crouch. The unease was washing way slowly. The sun was beating down on him and here on the old half rotten porch, bathing him in it's calm warmth. He stifled a yawn and glanced back in through the door. Sleepy. He was becoming all to sleepy. The humming grew louder.

"I'm not sure what it means to Kakashi sensei. But I agree, some thing is strange." Sakura sat down next to him and sighed. "I wonder where he is. It's a big house. "

Naruto shrugged and felt his head drop. It was very soothing to be in a calm place like this. The smells were soft, and the sounds of the forest were lulling. Humming, more humming. He closed his eyes.

"Don't fall asleep." Sakura growled and gave him a shake. She then yawned too.

"But it's so hot out and I..." A shuriken whistled by both of them cutting him off mid sentence. He scrambled to his feet, fighting the strange exhaustion, and took a ready stance. There was only silence and weeds and the hungry lonely house.

"Who's out there?" Sakura called, standing and at the ready as well. "Show your self!"

"So my lullaby didn't work on you! Maybe you are to old for that!" Laughter floated up from every where and no where. "Get off the Lawn you brats!" Another shuriken flew by.

Naruto back tracked it's movement to one of the dark beady-eyed windows. "Oi, Old Man! I have to talk to you!"

A shock of dirty white hair appeared and for a moment that was all of the man Naruto could see. Then with a head shake the hair cleared to the side and glassy black eyes peered down. "I Ain't got nothing to say to you!" He shook a knobby fist. "GET OFF MY PROPERTY BEFORE I TURN YOU IN TO FROGS!"

Naruto bit his tongue to keep from firing off a hot retort. _'Think first, think first, think first. . . you can do this. . .'_ "Look, I just want to TALK to you!"

A skinny white arm emerged and the old man shook his fist even harder. "I'M MAKING YOU GO AWAY! FOR EVER!"

A puff of smoke bellowed up before both of them and Sakura screamed for them to MOVE.

Naruto leaped, not questioning the command, and heard Sakura scream again. He glanced down to see the ground writhing. A living carpet of insects and vines engulfed her, her muffled cries giving away her utter panic.

Naruto landed on the trunk of a tree, horrified. "SAKURA!"

In a flash of white hair and green vest a figure dove in to the seething mess and out again. Kakashi landed next to Naruto, his Sharangan exposed, and Sakura a squealing flailing mess in his arms. She calmed in moments and held on to him with all her might.

"Oh, another BRAT!" The old man cackled. "And if it isn't the biggest BRAT OF ALL!" He tossed his head back and howled with broken, crusty, laughter. He sobered just enough to look back down and continue wit a small rant. "What? What could you children want with ME? Did that witch you call Hokage send you to me? That WITCH. You think she can give me orders?" He tilted his head almost all the way over. "HMMMM? ANSWER ME!"

Kakashi set Sakura down on the ground and jumped off the tree. He lazily stuffed his hands in to his pockets and glanced up. "Dachi, Sensei, We only came to talk."

"I DON'T WANT TO TALK!"

The ground started to move again all around and Sakura leaped up the tree to the lowest branches. Naruto let him self fall and stood next to Kakashi. "Then LISTEN." He was trying not to be angry, he really was. "Granny Tsunade will send people to kill you if you don't take the time to talk to me!"

Kakashi glanced down at Naruto and Naruto gave him a half glance in return. Once more the Copy Cat Ninja's face was unreadable.

"And just who are you that I should listen?" He tilted his head the other way. "Hmmm? That is Kakashi, son of a traitor!"

Had Naruto not been so close to Kakashi he may have missed the minuscule flinch, but thanks to his proximity he could feel it, even the sharp shift in chakra. He stole another quick glance. Kakashi's face had not change at all, but all the same he some how seems far more tense.

The old man went on. "And YOU!" He pointed with a bonny finger. "You are the DEMON FOX!"

This time Naruto felt his anger wash over him, unable to calm it, and forgot the change in his teacher. "I AM _NOT_ THE FOX!"

"Oh boo hoo! Did I hurt your feelings?" The hoary head shook with laughter. "DID I MAKE BABY CRY!"

Naruto growled and turned to Kakashi. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't trash this old geezer!"

Kakashi shifted slightly and Naruto finally caught a good look in both eyes. They were filled with some deep emotion, but he just couldn't place it. Before he could answer however Naruto felt the hair on the back of his neck stand straight up.

A hiss from behind and a wash of red and black in his mind where the Fox had suddenly taken notice. _"MOVE!"_ The demon roared.

Naruto grabbed Kakashi and leaped with out question. Both landed roughly on the same tree as the ground rumbled and parted from where they had been. Thousands of crawling creatures came bubbling up from the rent earth.

Kakashi sucked in a breath and looked up at where the old man had been. "A summon? Where is he?"

"He went back in side!" Sakura called out from her vantage point. "Why didn't your Sharingan see it?"

"He'll come out." Kakashi said grimly, ignoring the question. This time Naruto could place the look on his face, it was pain. He glanced down at Kakashi's feet and noticed one of the vines wrapped around his now bleeding ankle. The vine was throbbing and pulsating.

"What is that?" Naruto asked, nearly disgusted.

"It's nothing." Kakashi replied quickly. He turned again towards Naruto and gave a small, obviously fake, smile. "It could have been worse. How did you. . ."

"Kyubbi warned me." Naruto explained quickly.

The look changed again to another unreadable expression. Naruto studied it for a moment before he heard more hissing below him. The vines were pulling them selves up the tree like serpents and an insect filled mist rolled over the land. From the broken down door the old man hobbled out, a brooding look on his withered face.

"Kakashi, you brat, you have a LOT of guts coming to talk to me!" He ambled down the steps and the vines parted way from him. "After what your father did shouldn't you be dead from shame? Dead? Curled up in a grave?"

Naruto looked up at his teacher and saw a quick flash of some thing dark before a smile was slammed into it's place. "I think you may be confused." He jumped from the tree and landed in a small clearing where the vines were not slithering. "I have no shame in my past."

Naruto followed him, feeling the already hard knot of worry in his gut double in size. A moment latter Sakura was behind him and while he tried to take comfort from that he could not. The old man simply snorted and spit, looking agitated and wrinkled and cruel.

"Get off my land, Hatake, before I get angry. Last warning. And take the babies you brought with you."

"We are not babies!" Sakura snapped.

"BABIES BABIES BABIES BABIES! You are BABIES! Big CRY BABIES!" The vines trembled and the insects shivered.

Naruto took what he hoped was a calming breath. "Why are you so MEAN?"

The old man turned to him and leaned close. "You want to know why I'm mean?" He jumped back to the porch, surprisingly nimble. "Because the village I fought hard to protect is keeping a monster like YOU in it's walls!" He pointed and Naruto felt his resolve to be calm slipping. "You should have been killed a long time ago, brat!"

A wash of anger flooded him and he felt the fox grinning. '_Lets show him who should die, Naruto_.' He took a step closer to the decrepit old man and snarled. "I am not a monster!" He could smell burning and hear bubbles popping in side of his head.

"Oh yes you are!" There was a toothless scowl. "By your very existence you endanger my village! At any moment those Akatsuki wretches could come and rip the land apart looking for you! So what does the Hokage do? Shield you with the village walls!" He sneered. "Don't you ever wonder WHY you never get any good missions?"

Naruto felt the burning of the fox under his skin. "Tell me!"

"Naruto." Kakashi warned, but Naruto was beyond listening. Things had gone to far. No information, no warning. This was to much.

"Because she's afraid they'll find you, and when they do they'll use YOU as a weapon to destroy MY VILLAGE! Go ahead and ask the traitor's son!" A gnarled finger was jabbed in Kakashi's direction.

Naruto turned towards Kakashi with a small growl. "Is it true?"

Kakashi glanced away, down at the ground. Soundless, wordless. A confession written in silence.

"He will not deny it!" The old man pointed and leaned back. "You are a weapon and I hate you and want you to die!"

"I came here because people still care about you, but I can't see why!" Fangs, he could feel his fangs now. Shaking too, he couldn't stop shaking. "I came here because some one I care for very much asked me to help you." He was growling. He didn't know who he was referring to in the sentence. He was clawing at the air, red bubbles all over in his vision. Kakashi was backing up, giving him room. Maybe he meant Tsunade, he did care about her. He had a mission from her but he couldn't. . .

"Naruto calm down." Kakashi sounded miles and miles away.

. . . he couldn't understand why the old man seemed right. He felt the tail and ears, but he held back an attack, he could still think, he had to fight back, fight the fox. "I'm NOT A MONSTER!" There was red all over, red in the air and in the trees.

"You are! A monster and a baby!" The old man retorted. He lifted his hands and started to make seals. Naruto felt Kyubbi ready to strike, hungry for blood and vengeance.

A cold grin spread over the withered old face. "It'll be so much more simple for me to kill you if you are a baby!" He worked his shaking leathery hands quickly.

"Naruto No!" Kakashi shouted. Sakura screamed. Red was in the air, popping like bubbles, searing like fire. The vines were growing up every where. They wrapped around his feet, but the fox fire burned them away.

More seals, more vines, more anger, more resistance, more heat. . .

"I'm not a monster!" He cried. Cried, unable to convince him self int the haze of hate.

There was a flash of movement, a rush of chakra, and silver hair. Sakrura screamed again and Naruto saw her rush forward as he was slammed to the ground. The force sent him tumbling and he felt the fox being sent back to his cage with a seal. Kakashi was in front of him for only a moment as they both tumbled on. Naruto hit a tree and for a while the world seemed black and gray before returning to it's usual vivid color.

He held still, shaken and still angry, but not enraged. The burning fox fire was gone and he could think again.

There was nothing but silence.

Sakura was sprawled in the gently swaying weeds twenty feet in front of him where he'd been standing. She was picking her self up slowly, and shaking her head. The vines were gone and the insects were gone. So was the house and all evidence of it's having ever been there.

The old man, Diachi, was gone too.

Naruto shifted a little and grunted as he stood and braced him self against the huge trunk. He was just a little dizzy from the sudden loss of rage. "What happened?"

"I think. . ." She said slowly as she picked grass out of her hair. ". . . that the house was an illusion or some thing." She brushed her self off. "He was a master of Genjutsu. Are you OK?" She looked up at him and frowned.

"I'm fine." He turned to glance back at Kakashi. "Hay, Sensei?" He stepped around the tree, fearful of what he may find. "Kakashi sensei?"

Sakura walked over to him and together they looked around the massive tree trunk. Near the far left side there was a clear path of broken ferns and bushes. Taking a breath Naruto started to follow the trail. "Kakashi?"

For a moment only silence greeted them, then there was a small squeaking sound, like a wounded animal, but less vicious. "What is that?"

"It sounds like a little kid." Sakura passed Naruto and hurried down the path. She dipped down a short hill and disappeared out of sight, leaving him alone at the tree line. He stopped to lean against the tree and listened. The squeaking did sound like the crying of a child and that didn't settle well with him at all.

"Sakura?"

"You. . . You had better get down here!" She called back. "That old geezer... he. . . he did some thing to Kakashi sensei!"

Naruto felt his stomach flop as he shoved off the tree and jogged down the hill. At the bottom in a bundle of vest and weapons and scrolls and cloths was a wriggling mass. It was to big to be a new born baby, but to small to be Kakashi. For a moment Nartuo could neither move nor speak. His mind refused to take the site in.


	3. Discovery

Haven't got to much to say except thank you all for the wonderful feed back so far! I'm glad every one has enjoyed the first two chapters. I hope you like Chapter three just as much! ^_^

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**Chapter 3: Discovery**

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"He said it's be easier to kill you if you were a baby." Sakura's voice was a trembling whisper as she stood over the writhing mass. Her eyes were wide, filled with shock, and brimming with fright induced tears.

"It's genjutsu, it's got to be!" Naruto watched as the bundle started to thrash about wildly. His own fear was gnawing at him, replacing the worry.

Sakura shook her head, numb looking. "We need to look to be sure."

"You look!" Naruto stepped away from the cloth mass. The whole morning had been a strain. He never wanted to go, never wanted this mission. He didn't want to _deal_ with this situation. A baby. . . Kakashi a baby, his mind reeled.

"Why ME?" Sakura stammered as she glanced up, near panic.

"Your a GIRL!" He shot back, automatically. "Girls know how to take care of babies!" Flawless logic, it had to be. There was nothing in his training that had prepared him for this.

"I don't know any thing about babies!" She stepped back as well, looking at the thrashing bundle like it was a dangerous animal.

The mass was now turning almost violently and a shriek punctuated the effort of the smaller Kakashi to get free of his formally snug fitting uniform. Naruto saw all the sharp pointed kunai and shuriken for the first time and winced. "We need to get him out of there!" He'd impale him self in his fight to get free, and that could kill him.

"So do it!" Sakura was still backing up as if the bundle was a snake.

All at once the C-ranked mission seemed a whole lot more like an A-Ranked mission.

Naruto gulped and stepped up to the pile of cloths and kid and knelt down. There was cloth and metal and little hidden limbs becoming an ever tighter knot of danger and suffocation. For a moment he tried to untangle the mess, but found that for every tug one way it would tighten another. Growing more frustrated, and more frightened, he grabbed a fist full of cloth and yanked _hard_. It gave a little to easy and he shot back aways in to the stump of a dead giant. With a small grunt he eyed the offending scrap of cloth and discovered it was Kakashi's mask.

For just a second he could have fainted, but the now ear splitting shrieks kept him well grounded in the task at hand, especially considering some of them were shrieks of pain.

Naruto shoved the mask in to his belt pack and eyed the bundle over keenly. A kunai was being tossed about with the flailing limbs. To keep it from sinking in to his formally tall teacher Naruto snatched it up and was about to toss it away when an idea struck him. As of now it didn't seem as if Kakashi needed ALL of that cloth, and it was strangling him any way, so he pinched some black fabric between his fingers and started to cut.

When in the past he was throwing a kunai at the enemy it never seemed sharp enough for him. At least never enough to actually cut the other person. But now as he tactfully avoided flailing limbs and a trashing torso it seemed _incredibly_ sharp. He nicked his fingers twice and winced when what he thought was a wee little foot came down hard on the tip. That sent the smaller Kakashi to shrieking all over again and, frustrated, Naruto gave in and ripped the cloths apart with his hands.

Little pink limbs, some of them bleeding from small cuts, shot out like enraged serpents. A little pink belly was exposed now, along with other pink. . . bits. . . but the head was still being swallows whole buy what looked like a sleeve. Naruto hesitated to pull Kakashi's new fun sized noggin out as the mask was now in his back pack. While he had always wanted a peek under that mask he'd never imagined it would be in a moment of crisis. As a kid he'd tried to sneak peeks when ever the moment give opportunity, but now that he was older he wanted there to be a measure of dignity with the eventual unmasking.

With a wee little butt in his face, however, dignity was at the very least a far cry from what Kakashi had at the moment.

Grabbing the little body around the waist, and the sleeve above the still trapped head, Naruto pulled. For one exasperating moment nothing happened, then with almost absurd ease the two separated and Naruto fell back, missing the stump completely, with a kicking screaming Kakashi in his arms. He rolled to his knees, keeping Kakashi tucked close to his chest, and then straightened up. All the while as he moved Kakashi was still thrashing. Then all at once he calmed. From all the wriggling he'd managed to turn him self around and Naruto was staring at the back of his head.

For a long moment Naruto thought about turning him around and. . .

No. . . He just couldn't do it.

He stuffed Kakashi in to the crook of one arm and reached for the mask with his other. In only a moment he had the black cloth on, though it was much to big. Gathering up the loose fabric he tied a big knot it it and then, with a deep breath, turned his small sensei around.

The mask was swallowing up his whole face. Gently and carefully Naruto tugged the mask down to the nose and was greeted with two of the biggest, wettest, brown eyes he'd ever seen.

"Oooh." He managed, and was for a moment completely captivated. Kakashi was not an infant, but closer maybe to one and a half to two years old. He was standing on his own power now and Naruto let him go. He wobbled for a moment, but grabbed on to Naruto's jacket and stayed upright.

A shadow loomed over and Naruto looked up to see Sakura standing over them both.

"He's so small!" She breathed.

Naruto nodded some what numbly. "He took the hit that was meant for me."

Sakura knelt down and started to work on the little cuts and wounds. Kakashi held still for the treatment but would not let go of Naruto's sleeve. Big soppy tears were rolling down his cheeks and soaking the black cloth.

"Bweeding." He said slowly as he looked down at his injured foot where the vines had gotten him. He then looked up at Naruto with serous dark eyes. "Stuck."

"Yeah, you were stuck all right." Naruto smiled a little, charmed by the innocence in the words. "I got you out huh?"

Kakashi rubbed his eyes sleepily and then twisted to look around.

"Steady." Sakura said sweetly. "Let me help you."

He looked back at Sakura and then grabbed on to Naruto's sleeve with both hands. For a second he wobbled, then buried his head in Naruto's arm. There was a quiet moment before he started to cry out loud.

"What's wrong?"

"He's probably exhausted." Sakura paused her treatment to brush some hair out of her eyes. "He used the Sharingon I think. And at this size after all that energy use he must be almost completely drained."

"What do we DO?" Naruto asked, awkwardly patting Kakashi's back. It wasn't helping at all.

"We take him to Tsunade." She replied. "She'll know what to do." Sakura leaned back and looked the small body over. "That's all of the wounds."

"Good." He scooped Kakashi up and stood. "Can you get his stuff?"

She nodded.

"I want Daddy." Kakashi said, his lighter voice muffled in Naruto's sleeve.

"Your daddy?" Naruto asked, he glanced up as Sakura.

She shook her head with a sad frown. "Dead." She whispered.

Naruto looked sadly down at the white hair. "Uh, you get to come with us for a little while Kakashi Sensei... I'm sure your daddy will be back to pick you up soon."

Sakura knelt and started to gather every thing up. "I'm going to ask the level of this mission be raised."

"To what?" Naruto asked, shifting the tot's weight to his hip. He couldn't begin to imagine how this would classify. S-Ranked missions were ranked because they were _Suicide_ Missions. How one classified a mission where you GAINED life was beyond him.

She looked up with a small glare. "A-rank, there's just no way this stays C-rank."

Naruto forced a smile, glad he hadn't been the only one who'd run along those thoughts. "At least no one died."

* * *

Tsunade's pen was only a half an inch from the scroll she had been writing on. Ink dripped down making a rather large blotch on the white paper as she gazed, frozen, at the bundle in Naruto's arms. Her lower jaw worked around for a moment as she blinked, once, with wide open eyes. More ink dripped down and the blotch grew bigger.

"Hokage Sama?" Sakura asked, her voice void of all it's usual spunk and tenacity.

"That's really Kakashi?" The blond asked, glancing now from one teen to the other. Her pen was lowered slowly to it's rest.

"Yes." Naruto replied as he shifted Kakashi around. They had managed to make some cloths out of the tattered remains of his shirt before they brought him through the gates. "That old man did this to him and you have GOT to undo it!" Kakashi had been complacent when they had tugged them on, So much so that it had worried Sakura.

"His vital signs are not what they should be." Sakura glanced at him. "At least not for a child his size."

Tsunade stood slowly and bit at her thumb nail. "Sakura go fetch Shizune."

"Yes ma'am." Sakura backed away, giving Naruto a worried look, before rushing out the door. It shut in a clatter and Kakashi was startled enough to jump. He had stopped crying half way back to the village and nearly fallen asleep by the time they had come through the gate. Naruto, being the one to carry him, was worried that sudden youth was not the only thing inflicted upon his teacher. The child in his arms was becoming more and more limp with each passing minute. Even his breathing was slowing down. He felt hot and sticky too.

"You can undo this, right?" Fear was creeping in to Naruto's stomach making it churn. It was a sort of fear he'd never felt before.

"Bring him here." Tsunade cleared her desk with a quick sweep of the hand. "Let me look him over."

Naruto hurriedly set the lethargic toddler before her. Kakashi slumped, eyes half closed, and fought for a full breath.

"Kakashi Sensei?" Naruto watched, terrified, as the child fell limp against his supportive hands.

"Let him lay down." Tsunade said, her own voice held just a touch of fear in it as well.

Naruto let him go completely, gently, laying Kakashi down all the way. Tsunade held her hand on his miniature chest for a moment. A soft blue glow radiated from her palm and she frowned. "Did he use the Sharingan?"

"Yeah, but for some reason he couldn't see an attack coming."

"Hmmm." She closed her eyes and the glow intensified. "His chakra is fluctuating at an alarming rate. One moment it feels like his normal chakra, then it nearly disappears."

"Is that bad?" Naruto asked, hoping the answer wasn't as obvious as it looked. Kakashi was now breathing so slowly that it almost looked like he wasn't breathing at all.

"If it doesn't stop it could potentially kill him." She opened her eyes and looked down at the pale face. "I'm trying to stabilise it with my own. But there seems to be an out side source influencing him."

Naruto growled and clenched his fists. "That old man. . . If any thing happens to Kakashi sensei. . ." He let the sentence die there, not sure WHAT he'd do with out his teacher. The possibility of that void, loosing some one. . . again. . . He swallowed. You couldn't chase down and bring back the dead like you could with a missing team mate. Loosing Kakashi would be permanent. There would be no hope of a happy reunion.

"Naruto, tell me what happened. Tell me every thing you think could be useful."

His words came quickly, freely, and with a nervous tremble. "When we arrived there was this creepy old house there. Kakashi went in side for a couple of minutes while Sakura and I stayed out side. The old geezer attacked us and then summoned a bunch of bugs. They tried to EAT Sakura, but Kakashi came and saved her. He'd already been using the Sharingan. Then the old man yelled at us and attacked us again." Naruto stopped here and replayed all of the events in his mind slowly.

"Then what happened?" Tsunade demanded.

"Kyubi warned me to move, but Kakashi was just. . . standing there."

Her eyes widened. "The _FOX_ told you to move?"

Naruto nodded. "Looking back on it now it's really, really strange!" He wrung his hands together, the worry would burn a hole in his stomach.

"Your opponent was a master of genjutsu." She said slowly, her face a wash in thought and concentration. "Tell me what happened then."

"Well, after that the old guy tried to attack me, but Kakashi pushed me out of the way. I hit a tree and I think I passed out for a minute. When I looked around after that every thing was gone. All of it, the bugs, the vines, the house, all of it!" He looked down at the ever more limp body sprawled on the desk between them. "That should have been me." The feelings of fear were starting to grow and he could almost taste it, acid and bile. It was bitter and rank and reminded him of bad Raman.

"Is there any thing else?" She demanded, her blood red nails gripping slightly in to the pale skin and dark cloth. Kakashi's small brown eyes were rolling back in half lidded sockets.

"I don't know." He looked up, now feeling almost overwhelmingly anxious. His next question was almost to harsh to ask, but he forced the words out. "Is he going to die?"

Tsunade gave him a bitter cold look. "No." She turned her full attention on to Kakashi and grimaced. "I am keeping the chakra as stable as I can, but it's as if he was poisoned." She bit at the nail of her free hand.

"The vine!" Naruto almost choked on his words. "A vine got his foot, maybe that's where it came from!"

Tsunade looked both feet over. "I don't see a wound."

"Sakura healed him all over after he got tangled up in his own cloths. His own weapons were cutting him up." The ache and pain of fear was rolling through him and he realised that Kakashi meant a whole lot more to him than he'd considered before.

All at once one sentence from before stood out like a bright light in a sea of dark and hazy memories.

"_I came here because some one I care for very much asked me to help you."_

It wasn't Tsunade he was talking about after all.

"I can't both stabilise his chakra AND remove the poison." Tsunade glared down at her now nearly lifeless patient. "Where are they?"

Naruto glance back at the closed door with feelings of dread and helplessness swamping his mind. "I could look for them." He offered, his voice starting to waver ever so slightly.

"No, stay here in case. . ." She bit the sentence of. "Just stay with him."

Naruto turned back, looked down at his formerly tall and strong teacher, and felt ready to throw up. Maybe if he did he'd at least get rid of all the gut wrenching terror that was now raging in side him.

Like this Kakashi was helpless against the world. Unable to defend him self, or even care for him self. Easy pray for a decrepit old man like Daichi. This was supposed to be different. Naruto should have been the one on the table. "This is my fault."

Her sharp and cold eyes flicked up to give him a dark look. "Don't start blaming your self. If you do you may start to second guess your self and loose your edge in a battle. Deep breaths, sit down, and try to concentrate on any more details of the fight."

Naruto stumbled back in to a chair and scratched at his mind for any more memories, but all he could come up with was how tense Kakashi had been. "Why? Why did he have to chose me for this mission?" He closed his eyes and forced his breathing to be slow and calm.

"It's your power to change people and his unwavering faith in you, Naruto, that made you his perfect choice for saving Daichi."

"Well forget it." Naruto spat bitterly. "If I ever see him again, I'll kill him."


	4. Think First

I've had some comments that Naruto is OOC here... All I can say is... OOPS. I didn't mean for him to seem like that. But in my mind he's IC until he's hit but Sakura in the Hokage's office and THAT is what changes him... So... Yeah, maybe he is a bit OOC. *Shrugs*

And now . . . the real plot starts! BUWAHAHAHAHAH!

*Ahem*

I mean. . .um . . . Here is the next chapter, I hope you like it!

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**Chapter 4: Think First**

Poison and forbidden jutsu was an interesting combination. Shizune, trying to keep a calm professional eye on the tiny body on the desk before her, found her curiosity peeked. With an enormous book open in her lap and a pile of notes sprawled all around her, her scientific side was itching to exercise. It had been a long time scene she'd been able to tackle a good medical mystery, and even longer scene it involved one with such strange symptoms.

She had been doing her every day, boring as hell, paper work when a Naruto clone had burst in to the small room where she was demanding to know if she was there or not. On discovering her he yelled at her to get to Tsunade's office and disappeared. Panic flooded her, panic left over from the shadow clone, and she had run. Any thing could have happened, an assassination attempt even. It was almost to her relief when she found that it was just an ill child before her.

That was until she learned who the child was and why he was so sick.

Another clone, dragging Sakura behind him self, had shown up moments latter. Sakuura had said nothing to any one but instead rushed to draw out a sizable amount of poison.

Now as both Tsunade and Sakura were working to keep Kakashi alive. Shizune and Naruto were racing through the books to find any mention of forbidden youth jitsus. There were traces of information here and there, a text of theory here, a paragraph of observation there, but nothing solid. Many books were strewn about the floor, most of them crisp new updated versions of older volumes where any thing other than stranded practices had been edited out or abridged. It was obvious none of them held any answers.

"I can't find any thing." She sighed and lowered the red glossy edition of 'Chakra, Age, and You'.

Tsunade's hands were cupping Kakashi's head gently as Sakura let her fingertips hover only an inch above his chest. Small drops of rank smelling green-brown liquid were oozing out from his skin. Both had hard and focused looks on their faces.

Naruto glanced up from his book, 'Keeping Young While Aging'. "There has to be SOMETHING! If that old geezer found a way to make him a little kid then there HAS to be a way to UNMAKE it!"

Tsunade looked up through limp blond hair. "Not all Jistus can be countered, Naruto."

Naruto's face fell in to a million shades of despair. "What about the poison?"

Sakura, not looking up from her task, shook her head slowly. "I've never seen any thing like this. It just keeps regenerating."

"You can beat it Sakura!" Naruto forced a grin. "I believe in you!"

"Belief can't stop the poison alone." Her fingers dipped as she spoke and Kakashi sucked in a breath. All eyes focused on him, all conversation halted. The small chest stopped it's rhythmic rise and fall. No one took a breath as Kakashi lay deathly still. Then, as he gasped again every one let out their own breath.

Sakura resumed her task with double the determination written on her face.

"We'll keep looking." Shizune offered. "I think we need the older books though."

Naruto rushed to his feet, the book in his lap falling harshly to the floor. "I'll get them, where are they?"

"My office." She replied as he was making clones rapid fire. As soon as three formed they were off, crashing in to each other as they piled out the door.

Tsunade glared at the commotion. "Be careful." She growled. "You're too reckless."

Naruto opened his mouth to fire off a retort about how they were running out of time, but a smarting pop in his jaw halted him. He HAD been reckless, that's how Kakashi was now in the state he was in. He snapped it shut and sank back down in to the chair. Quietly he picked p the book that had fallen. "Sorry, Grandma Tsunade."

Her scowl softened and she looked back down to her small charge. "We are all tense." She waved her hand dismissively. "Just try to temper your self in the future."

"I will."

Silence filled the room again hollow and thick. Pages scraping and flipping were like claws on a chalk board to Naruto's ears, as every page turned meant the answer was still undiscovered. Kakashi rasped and heaved for air unsteadily, another grating unbearable sound. Naruto shifted, turning his back to the room and buried his nose in the book.

He was trying hard to untangle a wretchedly complicated set of medical terms when he felt the rush of a clone returning. He grunted as the clone's memories flooded him for a moment before looking up. They had found several books, but could not figure out what ones to bring.

"Shizune sama."

She looked up from her studies, eyes only half focused. "Hmm?"

"What books do you want, you have a lot of them in your library."

"Oh. . . Uh. . . I'm not sure."

He sighed and closed the book before standing. _Think before you speak, think before you speak_... "Is there any way to narrow the search down?"

She frowned as both Sakura and Tsunade looked up at her. "I know we'll need to check a number of authors, and several compilation books. . ."

"That will take DAYS!" Naruto growled. "There has GOT to be a faster way!" _Think, think,__** think**_...

"This can't be rushed, Naruto." Shizune said wearily. "If we do the wrong thing at the wrong time we'll make it worse, not better."

He growled, again, frustrated. To search that many books fast enough they would need a whole army of people. All they had at the moment were Tsunade, Sakura, Shizune, him self and his clones. His mind hitched on the last thought. His clones.

He _WAS_ an army!

"That's IT!" He slammed his fist in to his palm and grinned.

"What?" Sakura asked.

"I'll search them my self with my clones." He brought his hands up to form the first sign.

"No don't!" Tsunade snapped. "If that much information hits you to fast your brain could overload causing irreparable damage."

"But I've done training like this before with Jiraya Sensei. . ."

"But with only one repetitive motion or skill practiced over and over again. Only one thing to learn. Trust me on this."

Naruto glowered. "But Kakashi. . ."

"What if he only makes a few clones?" Sakura asked. "Or instruct the clones that find some thing to come to us rather than release right away. They can release one at a time slowly after that."

Tsunade nodded slowly. "All right. Twenty clones, and they will release one at a time over twenty four hour intervals."

"YES!" Naruto brought ten clones in to the room and sent them on their way, then ten more once the room was cleared of the first batch.

Glancing over at Kakashi he forced a smile. "Don't worry Sensei! My brain will fix your problem!"

For a moment the three women took on a doubly worried expression before stoically returning to their tasks. Naruto ignored them and scooped up the book he had been reading and sat back down.

Once more time move by slowly and tediously. The excitement of the idea and the method for quickly finding the cure faded with in minutes, and was forgotten by the time the first hour had dragged it's self by. Then, like distant thunder, several pairs of feet could be heard racing towards the Hokage's office.

All four looked up as the feet neared and stopped. There was a moment's pause before the door was thrown open and four clones all carrying books tumbled in at once. It was a small miracle that none of them harmed one another enough to cause one to release.

"We have it!" One cried.

"TSUNADE SAMA!" Another shouted.

"It's terrible!" The third wailed.

The fourth, buried under the other three, fought to free his head. "This is all my fault!"

"Calm down all of you!" Naruto stood and swiped the book from his clones. "What page?"

"The one book marked." Number one said. "We can't undo this!"

"Hush!" He hissed as he handed the book to Tsunade. "One of you release." He added, pointing to the one on top of the pile. It obeyed instantly and a flood of information his him all at once. As he let it wash over his mind he realised just how right Tsunade had been about learning to much too fast. This clone had scanned three books and chatted for twenty minutes to a group of four others about the books they had read. All of that information had to be swallowed before he could get to the information he wanted. The answer to the questions they had all been asking.

'What was the poison'? It was a special blend of plant toxins that are grown from mold. Once the mold infects the body it makes more and more poison. But if treated the right way it was easy to kill.

That was the good news.

'How could they reverse the process of turning a full grown man in to a baby'? The short answer was they couldn't.

That was the bad news.

". . . will grow then?"

Naruto shook his head, trying to clear it of the added information swirling around in his brain. Sakura was talking as Shizune was injecting Kakashi with the cure. His clones were all babbling on and on about what they had found. He shot them a silencing glare as he rubbed his now aching head. It had taken a long time to ingest the information.

"He will grow yes." Tsunade was stroking Kakashi's hair and looking down at him thoughtfully as she read from the pages. "He'll grow in spurts in his sleep. These growth piriods could be as short as two weeks, or as long as six. It's not all that clear on why he'll grow this way, but it seems to suggest that the growth will follow his natural growth spurts from the past. Apparently as he grows he will regain all of the information he already learned."

Naruto rubbed his throbbing temples. His three clones were picking them selves up and dusting each other off in silence. "So he'll grow up fast?" One asked.

Naruto slumped in to the chair he'd been sitting in before. "He's thirty now." Naruto answered his clone. "So, because he's about two years old now, that will be any where from 56 to 176 weeks." As the numbers settled in to his consciousness a chill raced through him. "So he'll be back to normal in one to three years. That. . . that just can't be right."

Tsunade was nodding with a deep set frown. "I think we can speed the process up, maybe, but only after he's reached full adult hood."

Sakura was nearly done with the poison and looked up with a deep frown of her own. "Both of his parents are dead. Who's going to look after him while he's small?"

A short heavy silence followed as all looked the now pint sized ninja over. His breathing was still rough, and his body still limp. Naruto glanced around the room, hoping someone, anyone, would have the answer.

"Sakura couldn't you...?" Shizune asked slowly, braking the thick silence.

She shook her head frantically and held up her hands while distancing her self from her sensei. "N-not with my medical duties. I don't have the time!" She bumped in to the wall and pressed her self there as if trying to merge with the plaster. "He needs some one who has no obligations except to completing missions. Some one who only has him or her self to lock after. Some one who's. . . who's not _ME_.""

Slowly, one by one, all eyes turned to Naruto. He felt a swell of dread knot his stomach up as the reality his him. "Who? ME! Oh no. No no no no..."


	5. New Mission

Short chapter. Hope you like it.

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**Chapter Five: New Mission**

The room was engulfed in a strange, all encompassing, blanket of silence. Naruto's eyes darted from the two grown women, to his teen age team mate, to the still gasping child sprawled in the center of them, back to the women. . . over and over. All three of the female shinobi were staring at him, waiting, expecting.

"I'm NOT taking him!" Naruto finally said with a soft growl. He would shout but he didn't want to wake Kakashi up, he didn't think he could take the sound of him crying in little infant squeaks again. The wight of having lost the man to infancy, plus the demand to now care for him. . . Naruto forced his voice to be a little louder. "Not me. _No!_"

"You are the only one who's free from permanent obligations." Sakura argued in an equally hot, yet subdued growl. She stabbed a finger at him. "You have the time _and _your own apartment."

"But you are a girl!" He shot back in a hiss. "Girls LIKE babies!"

"I have a JOB!" She waved her hand around the room. There was a touch of panic in her voice. "Here, the hospital... I don't have time to take care of him with all the things I do when NOT on a mission!"

"It's not hard, Naruto." Shizune smiled an unconvincing smile. "Babies can be a lot of fun to look after."

"Then YOU do it!" He snapped. This time his voice rose to nearly a shout and the silver haired child hic-coughed in to a crying fit. Now free from the poison, but still looking over all unwell and sickly, he squirmed and curled in to a screeching ball of anger and tears. Tsunade froze, clearly unsure as how to handle the now pint sized ninja, and Sakura backed away in to the wall again, wide eyed, as if he'd become a cobra. Shizune scooped him up gently while giving the other two women a quick scolding look.

"Shh, shh, it's OK." She cradled him and stroked his back soothingly. "It's OK."

"See?" Naruto stabbed the air with his own finger, pointing, shaking just a little. "You are GOOD with kids! You take him!"

Tsunade cleared her throat while trying to recover her professional aura. "Naruto, Shizune, like Sakura, does not have time to care for an infant." She was straightening out her cloths and hair, while looking any where but at Kakashi. "Her time is wrapped up for over fourteen hours a day here with me. There is no way she can take on a child at this point in time."

"But I'm sixteen." Naruto glanced back at his clones, hoping for a little help with the argument, but they were all staring stupidly at him. He glared, itching to release them all, but knew he was stuck with hyper active, less than brilliant, doppelgangers for several days. That alone was bad enough, but to add a baby to the mix was simply to much. He'd take on killer Akatsuki or missing S-Class ninja before he took on a toddler for more than an hour.

"You are the only one who can." Tsunade said mater-of-factly.

Kakashi was still crying and clinging to Shizune, still squeaky and intolerably loud. His face held a wash of fear and pain.

"Why? Why me?" He looked at the Hokage, the woman who was in charge of his village, his missions, his world. "Why not some one else?"

"There _IS_ no one else." She said, subdued. "Both of his parents are gone." She added in a whisper glancing at Kakashi with just a hint of sadness.

Naruto glance once more over at the shivery sobbing bundle. As an adult he was simply a person, as a child he was an orphan. Helpless. Alone.

"You really won't abandon him, will you?" Shizune asked.

As if driving the point home Kakashi turned to him and gave him the biggest, wettest, saddest look he'd ever seen. Large fawn brown eyes were pleading to be protected. Naruto gulped and stepped back. Back away from those soulful eyes and that one horrible word. 'Orphan'. He _hated_ that word.

"There's no way." Naruto mumbled. He stepped back again and bumped the back of his knee in to the chair. Shaking his head he allowed him self to sink in to the seat. "No way."

"There are a lot of people out there who would kill him." Tsunade said, her eyes distant. "If any one found out what had happened to him they would take the time to strike while he's weak."

Naruto looked up at her, tearing his eyes off of those soppy brown ones looking so strongly at him. "What?"

"He fought in a war." She looked down at her own hands, reflecting, remembering. "And after that he's gone on numerous top secret missions for the Village. Eventually he will regain all of his memories, and he'll be the sharingan Kakashi once more. While he's small there will be people who will not hesitate to kill him for the sake of revenge."

All eyes turned to the small bundle. He was tiering quickly after the whole ordeal and growing limp in Shizune's arms. Heavy gasps came up from the now soaked mask.

"So. . . What?" Naruto asked, feeling another stab of some undefinable unpleasant emotion. It churned his stomach and made his heart throb strangely. "Wouldn't giving him an ANBU guard be more effective than making me watch him?"

"No." Tsunade shook her head. "Because you are the jinchuriki. No one out side of the Akastuki them selves will try to fight you. And even if they did it wouldn't be to take Kakashi." She sank down in to her own chair, her mind clearly made up. Naruto silently pleaded for her to reconsider, to give the responsibility to some one else. He pleaded for her not to order him to take Kakashi. "His enemies will kill him, or worse."

Stupidly, with out thinking, he asked. "What could be worse?"

All three women looked at him as if he'd asked why people walk on their feet instead of their hands. To them it was obvious. He fidgeted, still not knowing, until Shizune spoke up with a painfully sad look spreading over her face.

"They'll torture him for information they think he has. Or experiment on him because of what's happened. Even if he's just a baby."

Naruto's heart skipped a beat at that and he stared at the half asleep child whimpering in her arms.

"He'd do it for you." Shizune added, softly.

Once more all eyes were on him, even Kakashi's, though they were half lidded and unfocused. Still his eyes were the ones Naruto couldn't look away from. Soft and innocent, yet already filled with strife and pain just in the short time since the fight in the woods. At last Naruto hung his head and buried his face in his hands.

Kakashi WOULD do it for him. Sure, he'd try to get out of it because he was not fond of children, but he'd do it. He'd been the second human being in the world to actually _care_. And unlike Iruka, who had hated him for a long time before changing his perceptions, the care hadn't come from an inborn like for kids, either.

There was no one in the world now who could help him, protect him, or look after him. Orphan, alone, weak, helpless. He shuddered as memories of his own childhood bubbled up from the depths of his mind. Echoes of lonely, **lonely**, endless days that hurt like no physical wound could.

No one wanted Kakashi. He was a burden.

What kind of Hokage would he be if he abandoned his team?

"OK." It was like a prison sentence tumbling from his own mouth and out past his palms. "I'll take him."

Silence again filled the room and for a moment Naruto wondered if he'd been heard past his own hands. He looked up and saw Shizune was coming towards him, smiling gently. With out a word she handed Kakashi over. Naruto stiffened as the little body curled up almost comatose against his stomach.

"Just give him lots of support so he wont fall and he'll settle right in."

Naruto held the small body loosely at first, hesitantly, then as he started to relax he found his arms taking hold at all the right places automatically. He's not taken stock of Kakashi's weight or size when he'd first carried him here. Panic and adrenalin had focused his mind only on the point of returning as quickly as possible. Now, as Kakashi settled in comfortably, he took note of how small the bones were, and how soft his skin was. He was a warm, solid, yet light weight, that slowly went limp. Instinct brought Naruto's hand to the small of his little teacher's back where he started to rub gently.

"I'm sorry Kakashi sensei." He mumbled quietly. Guilt washed over him and he closed his eyes again. He would care for him, as best he could, because this was his fault. "I'm sorry." He'd not let the one who had protected him go unprotected.

Kakashi sighed, heavily, exhausted. Already he'd been in such horrible danger. . . Naruto forced his mind to be empty. He'd done enough thinking for one day.

"I'll get some things together you'll need, and some books that will help you for the first couple of weeks." Shizune said as she stood. "And you'll need formula and baby food. . ." She trailed off, her mind already wrapping around the shopping list in her head. She left the office whispering items and ticking them off on her fingers as she went.

Sakura busied her self with gathering the medical books. "Well, uh, good luck, Naruto." With an arm load she left, the clones scampered out after her like love sick puppies, offering to carry her books, or walk her home. Was that how he'd been yesterday? This morning?

It looked so childish.

Tsunade was the only one left with him, her fingers laced together under her chin. Critically she was looking Kakashi over. "Make sure he sleeps, Naruto. He'll only age in his sleep."

With the heavy hot bundle dozing in his arms Naruto half smiled. "I don't think that will be a problem." He continued to rub the small back.

Tsunade frowned, the action made her nearly look her true age. "Keep him hidden. His status must be top secret, and you MUST not let him out of the village with out you or Sakura with him. Not until he's old enough to take orders from me. If the wrong people find him. . ."

"I understand." He said, cutting her off.

"No, Naruto, You don't. His life is in your hands. Guard it well."

"I will. I promise."


	6. The Invisible War

Tiz been a while, yes, but the end of summer has been... crazy.

Stranded warning of my crappy writing applies. Other than that... enjoy!

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**chapter 6: The Invisible War**

Kakashi slept the whole time he was being carried to Naruto's apartment. His breathing was still not what Naruto thought it should be, but he _was_ breathing, and that was good enough for the moment. Carefully Naruto took to the roof tops to keep what had happened as secret as possible, and was glad that he met no one on his way home. Shizune followed him closely, a bag of supplies in each hand. She glanced over once in a while and offered a small smile. Naruto couldn't manage to return it.

Now that he had started the day with thinning things through his mind wouldn't stop going through scenario after scenario. Could he have done some thing different? Was there some way he should have seen this coming? The Fox had warned him and that was a terrifying truth in of it's self. Did that mean Daichi was so powerful even the Fox was afraid of him?

All to soon they were at his apartment. He dropped down to his door and shifted the small bundle to one side. He pressed his hand to the seal on the door and unlocked it, making sure to allow for Shizune to enter behind him. She was not keyed in, though maybe giving her access was now a good idea. He trusted her any way, and he might need her.

But before he could say any thing she was talking, giving him instructions and telling him a whole list of things he needed to do and not do. He nodded, pretending to listen, as he scanned his small home for someplace to set Kakashi down.

". . .then, if he still won't eat, you could always try. . ."

"He needs a bed." Naruto said, brining her near rambling to a sudden stop.

"Oh, yes, I hadn't thought of that." She was unpacking the books and food. "He looks old enough he could sleep on the couch, but if you want to you could always make a place for him on the floor."

Naruto set him down on his raggedy couch and stepped back. "Would he fall off of the couch?"

She looked the whole scenario over with a critical eye. "It depends on how active he is in his sleep." She picked up one particularly large old book and brought it over as she continued to study the situation. "I'd try the floor first, just to see if he's a sound enough sleeper to go up on the couch. It's less drafty on the couch then the floor, so it would be a better place for him."

Naruto frowned. There wasn't a place where it wasn't drafty. The old apartment had cracks along the floor moulding and the windows were never completely sealed. "You think he could catch a cold if he gets in a draft?"

"He might." She pressed the book in to his hands. "Here, this one will help you while he's under the age of seven."

Naruto opened the book and thumbed through it. There were hundreds of brightly colored pictures and photographs with a lot of pink and sky blue highlights and borders. It looked like a book written by women for women. He sighed and shut it. "I'll look though it as soon as I get every thing else settled. Thank you."

She nodded and smiled again. He was getting just a little tired of the big fake smile. There was nothing to smile about here as far as he could see.

"Not a problem." She chimed. "Now I know this is not what you wanted to end up doing, but remember, Naruto, The Hokage and I will help you out when you need it. We both have faith you can do this." She set her hand on his shoulder like it should have been comforting.

He wanted to swat it away and tell her. . .

Tell her what?

That he was 16 and in no way ready to take care of a kid? That some how this had been a mistake and that he should be relived of the responsibility? But this WAS his fault. He bit his tongue.

"Thanks." Was all he could muster after a moment.

"There are reports I have to sort so I have to go now." Of course she did. She gave him another squeeze, still giving him that smile. "I'll be back tonight to check up on you, OK?"

This time he forced his own smile, but he was sure it didn't look happy. "Sure. Thanks."

"Good luck." She let him go and was gone all to quickly. The door shut behind her and he hadn't even given her access to his apartment. He sighed and set the book back down on his kitchen table where the rest of the stuff had been sat. Frustrated he sat down in one of the kitchen chairs and looked over at the youth half curled up on the sofa.

He possibly had over a year ahead of him before Kakashi was even at gening level. That meant months and months where he was more or less helpless. He'd been a prodigy as a child, sure, then an ANBU black ops, but not until he was a teenager. Kakashi would be an easy target for any enemy ninja who caught wind of his _condition_. He knew secrets about the Leaf Village the Leaf Village it's self didn't even know. Only right now he didn't exactly know them.

It was all very unsettling.

Naruto stood again, feeling another swell of anxiety and rubbed his hands together. Normally when got over stressed he'd go out and do some training runs, but he couldn't just leave. He swallowed the anxiety and turned towards his house chores. There weren't many, but there might be just enough to distract him till the uneasy feelings died down.

He started with the books. There were fifteen of them, all like the first, girly and illustrated and fluffy looking. It was such a huge contrast to the manuals and training journals of a ninja that he wasn't even sure how to feel about all of the pink and blue themed tomes. They had to be helpful, right? He shoved them all on top of his book shelf, making a mental note to start on them as soon as he was done with his chores.

Next was the food. Most of it looked mushy and brown or yellow. Very, very, unappetizing, in his opinion. How was he supposed to convince Kakashi to eat this stuff? Wasn't that what Shizune had been saying? Some thing about getting him to eat?

He grimaced and scooped all the food jars up. There wasn't much room in his cupboard with all the instant raman he kept there, so he just deposited it all on the counter next to the sink. Wearily he noted that he really did need to listen better.

One more short coming. He sighed and rubbed his head with the back of his hand.

A small whimper floated up from living room, distracting him from the rest of the clean up. It was followed by the squeak of old couch springs. He abandoned his chores and hurried to Kakashi's side. The white haired boy wasn't awake yet, but he was no longer fully asleep. He rubbed his eyes and whimpered again. He looked all to pale, and sickly damp with fever.

Kneeling down on one knee Naruto reached out and pressed his hand to the small forehead. It wasn't scorching hot, but it was a strong fever never the less. At the touch Kakashi woke up startled and glassy eyed. He squirmed out from under Naruto's hand and shot to the other end of the couch with a frightened yelp. Wild wide eyes observed Naruto with a measure of fear.

"Hey, sorry, didn't mean to startle you like that." Naruto forced a smile.

Kakashi continued to watching him like an animal trapped in a cage. His large liquid brown eyes darted about the room, taking in every thing.

"Take it easy." Naruto said gently. He stood and spread his hands and a pacifying gesture. "I'm not going to hurt you."

As Kakashi continued to watch him he pressed him self tight in to the cushions and brought his hands close to his face.

"Kakashi." Naruto said softly. He knelt back down, making him self almost eye level. "I'm a friend. Do you remember me carrying you to the Hokage's office."

Kakashi blinked and glanced around the room again. His eyes lingered on the slightly open window before darting back to Naruto.

"Not a chance." Naruto frowned. "You are stuck with me for a long, _long_, time."

Tears welled up in the luminous brown. Kakashi sniffled a little and sank to a squat. He hugged his knees and berried his head in his arms. A very small whimper floated up, muffled.

Naruto's heart skipped a beat as he watched the little silver haired prodigy wilt from his fright and wheeze hot feverish breaths. "Hey, Kakashi, I'm not going to hurt you." He moved closer slowly.

Kakashi peered out from under his arms and between his knees. "No!" He cried. His whole body began to shake.

Naruto sighed and backed away. "OK, fine. I'll be in the kitchen." He got up and walked away. Even as inexperienced with kids as he was he wondered if such a strong reaction of fear was supposed to be normal. Weren't kids supposed to be all friendly and loving? Just like dogs or some thing?

Maybe it was because he was still so sick. If that was the case then there was simply nothing Naruto could do for him now. The Hokage had approved of him leaving her care, so she must have felt he would be OK. Still he didn't have any way to treat a fever in his house. When ever he got sick he'd simply go to Sakura and whine until she gave him some thing to make him feel better.

He sighed, again, and rubbed his eyes. Yanking the book Shizune had given him off of it's pile he started to flip though the pages, hoping he could find some thing to help with the situation he was facing.

There was a whole chapter dedicated just to how to ready your house for the 'new arrival', and another chapter dedicate to house plants you could and could not own. Another couple of flips and he found the section on sick children. He sat down on the kitchen chair and started to read about different medications one could try. He had no medications in his house, and knew taking the tot out again just might make it worse.

Frustrated he flipped on, unsure if any thing in the sappy pages would actually help. He flipped back to the section about home preparation, and frowned when the first two paragraphs all but prohibited sharp objects below the shoulder level in one's house.

Ninja's had a lot of sharp objects. The next couple of paragraphs had to do with cupboards, doors and windows. . .

"The window." Naruto's head snapped up and he looked out at the couch. It was empty. He snapped the book shut and dropped it on to the table as he jumped up from the chair. Sure enough, as he entered the living room, he saw his small charge trying to pry the window open.

"Kakashi, _**no**_!"

Startled Kakashi whirled around and shivered in terror. Tears sprung to his eyes and, with a little wail, he dropped to the ground and curled up in another crying fit. His whole face was feverishly red.

Naruto suppressed a growl and a new wave of fear. "Stop crying." He ran a hand through his head. "It's not going to do you any good."

Instead of stopping Kakashi only howled louder.

This time Naruto did growl, very softly, in agitation. He turned his attention away from the sobbing mess on the floor and addressed the window. Most of the windows in his apartment no longer locked, but were, he hoped, to heavy to be opened by his now tinny teacher once they were fully shut. Stepping up to the failed escape rout Naruto shut the window hard.

"You know I'm not to happy about all this my self." He pulled his fingers back and noted that the top of the window was quite dusty. "My plan for the day was to go do some training. Then YOU had to drag me on that stupid mission." He looked down. Kakashi was curled up in a tight, sickly, sobbing, ball. "It your fault. You never should have made me go. Or_** WARNED ME**_." The last words came out with so much force Kakashi actually shuddered and fell silent. Naruto felt a twinge of guilt at that.

Turning he pressed his back to the wall and slid down. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you."

Kakashi was still stiff, shaking just a little, but stiff.

"What's the matter any way?" Naruto reached out and prodded his young charge gently. He seemed no hotter, but his above normal temperature was still worrying. "I'm not _that_ scary, am I?" When Kakashi didn't respond Naruto poked him again. Even when prodded again, however, Kakashi refused to move or make a sound. Naruto felt a new wave of anxiety wash over him when he realized Kakashi was quite literally frozen in fear.

"Hey. . ." He hesitantly set his hand on the small of Kakashi's back. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Very slowly he reached out and started to pick Kakashi up. The small body was completely ridged in his hands, like a chunk of wood.

"Kakashi?" Naruto carefully turned him so they were facing each other and caught the blatenet terror in the soft brown eyes. "It's OK. I'm not going to hurt you."

Kakashi gave a small strangled gasp, but did not move.

"Come on, don't do this to m. . ." Before he could finish the sentence the tot let out a high pitched, blood curtailing, scream and raked his finger nails across Naruto's eyes. Naruto yelped and dropped the volatile little bundle before shooting back in to the wall. With a hiss of anger and pain Naruto rubbed his eyes now bloody eyes.

"KAKSHI! WHAT THE _HELL_!"

Unable to see a thing all he could gather was that his miniature sensei was running away, his footsteps thundering from some where in the room. Then every thing went silent again. He sat for a moment rubbing and growling vehement curses before squinting his eyes back open. When he did Kakashi was no where in sight. He could hear Kakashi crying with miserable little squeaks from _somewhere_ in the room, but his his vision was too blurry to make much out at the moment. Kakashi had struck between blinks and dealt damage that could have rendered an ordinary person blind.

Naruto rubbed his eyes again and relised that once more being unlike the other people had saved him from grievous harm. Physical harm, any way. Like Kakashi he had been alone and an outsider because he was different. Kakashi was the ninja prodigy, Naruto was the nine tailed Monster.

Memories of his own childhood filtered in from not so very long ago. Memories of him self hiding and crying after some one had found him and tormented him just because he was the host of the Fox. Only no one would tell him why back then. All his life had consisted of was anger, lonlyness, and hatred. He could remember begging for some one to help him, or for every one to just leave him alone, but back then it had been an endless string of torment and rejection.

Naruto had never wondered before, but now as he could hear the echoes of his own past in Kakashi's distressed wailing, he wondered what his teacher's younger life had been like. He had been a prodigy and a master of ninja arts at a young age, but just how young Naruto had never been told. If Kakashi's aim and timing just a moment before was any indication then Naruto knew that now was the time his killer prowess was awakening.

Thinking back on the history lessons he'd mostly slept trough Naruto tried to picture what the dayly live of the Village had been like back then. He remembered one class that talked about enemies from all over the ninja world trying to invade, and another class about the war.

War. He rubbed his eyes again, and sighed. Kakashi him self had spoken of the war. Back then the world was nothing but blood-lust and battles, with countries trying to take over other countries. Every one who spoke of it spoke with tired words and shaded eyes. In the past Naruto had dismissed it all as some thing that only affected the "old people".

One of those "old people" had curled up in a hidden corner and was sobbing almost hysterically with fever and fear, trapped in a war that was no longer raging, and lost among strangers.

"Kakashi?" Naruto shifted back to his knees. "I'm not going to hurt you. I don't want to fight, OK? I just want to make sure you are OK."

The sobbing was starting to die down as Kakashi exhausted him self. Naruto sat up a little and after rubbing his eyes once more, looked around. He still couldn't see where his little teacher was, but his vision was much more clear.

"No one is going to hurt you. Won't you come out?"

The only answer was more miserable, half spent, sobbing squeaks. Naruto closed his eyes and leaned back again, not wanting to face the reality that was before him. With a war all around the white haired tot, and invisible enemies breathing down the village's neck, Kakashi's fear made sense in a sickening sort of hollow way. Shizune's words about torture played it's self out in Naruto's mind again and he knew, _knew_, they wouldn't have been spoken with out a level of reality behind them.

No one knew what the silver haired Copy Cat Ninja's real past was like, not Even Guy or Jiraya. Any thing could have happened to Kakashi in his youth. The uncertainty was a dark assurance that Kakashi would not grow up like a normal child living on the streets of Konoha today.

The weight of the responsibility facing him, plus the unsearchable mystery that was Kakashi, settled over Naruto like the lid to a coffin. The war was over. The village was at peace.

He just wished he could convince his charge of that now.


	7. New Lessons

I had a hard time getting this chapter to work for me, so if you like it do let me know. I had to get my mind off of the NaNoWriMo monster I have been working in and finished this. I hope it's not as choppy or rambling as I think it could be. (I haven't registered for NaNoWriMo, so it's not an official project, but still. . .)

Any way, Enjoy!

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**Chapter 7 New Lessons**

Naruto wasn't sure exactly when he had nodded off, but the strong knock at his door brought his attention to the clock first. It had been nearly ten hours since the incident. He stood from where he had eventually given in to sleep and stretched out the kinks in his back.

After Kakashi had hidden him self away to cry Naruto had taken the time to finish up his house chores. All had been going rather well until the pine sized ninja had managed to pry the window open with a kunai.

He really was as bright as people said. Unfortunately, in his small and fevered state, he was not strong. He managed to get one arm out when the weapon slipped free and half skewered his foot. The window crashed down as well, trapping him in a painful, heavy glass and wood, trap. He'd let out a blood curling shriek, and that had brought Naruto's attention from a slimy looking past called "baby food" to the trapped tot. Rushing up to Kakashi, who was thrashing wildly and kicking, Naruto's first reaction was to try and grab him in order to hold him up while he opened the window. But the second his hand was in reach Kakashi yanked the kunai from his own foot and slammed it in to Naruto's hand.

Naruto, not having expected the attack, recoiled with an almost animal snarl. That snarl terrified his little charge so much that Kakashi froze. Hanging from the window by his arm his feet didn't quite reach the floor. As Naruto pulled the weapon out of his palm and glared at the stiff child, Kakashi's hand started to turn white where it was protruding out the other side.

Naruto had to swallow the budding anger hard as he reached forward one more time to free his charge. This time Kakashi was once more stiff as a board, making it much more easy to free him, but also gave Naruto the opportunity to examine his foot.

Blood had been dripping freely from the wound and making a little red puddle on the floor. Naruto had to bite back a second snarl as he haled Kakashi to the kitchen and dumped him none to gently in the sink.

"Stay." He'd hissed.

Kakashi had only looked up with ridged wide eyes.

The knock repeated it's self loudly, pulling Naruto from his half asleep memory. He rubbed the crust from his eyes and made his way towards the door. "Coming."

He cast a glance at his ward, who was sleeping soundly on the couch, depleted of all energy. A thick wad of duct tape covered most of his foot with paper towels sticking out in all sorts of directions from under the sticky strip. Naruto had never kept band-aids in his home, he had never needed too. While Kakashi had laid limp in the sink Naruto had made a rapid fire search of his home for some thing to stop the bleeding. By the time his eyes finally landed on the tape Kakashi had started to come out of his terror coma and was crying again. Snatching up the silver tape Naruto had readied him self for another fight. Instead the feverish child yielded with an almost forlorn hopelessness.

It had been a heart breaking sight. Sitting limp as a wet blanket and dressed in ragged cloths two sizes two big for him, Kakashi looked every bit the way ward orphan he was. With a wounded foot on top of it all Naruto was forced to take a moment to separate him self from the memories of his own childhood that came flooding back. No one would have dared come close enough to him to wrap a foot. But then again, it had never much mattered in his case.

"Naruto can I come in?" Shizune's voice called through the door.

Naruto pressed his palm to the door and unlocked it. He ran his fingers through his hair once, trying to straighten it, as he pulled the door open. Shizune stood with a big familiar fake smile plastered over her face.

"Hey, how is it going?"

Naruto tried not to grimace. "No one is dead, yet." Stepping away from the door he waved her in side. The moment she caught sight of the tot the fake smile vanished.

"Is he OK?"

Naruto sighed. "I think so." He stepped up to the couch and looked down at Kakashi. It had been easy to treat the wound while he had been so still, but it had not been easy to look in to the big brown frightened eyes. Naruto had forced him self to focus on his task, rather than the boy, and realised that his cloths were dirty and bloody. It took a moment for him to gather the courage to pull the mask off, but once he did pulling the rest of the ragged cloths off seemed easy and some how less inappropriate. Once he had pulled them off, however, a new discovery turned his stomach just a little.

His miniature sensi was going to need diapers again. Killer child genius or no he was still just a baby. With that realisation, coupled with the fact that he was already in the sink, Naruto did the only thing left for him to do. He had turned on the water and started washing the silver haired boy. At First there was no reaction from the nearly catatonic youth, but slowly he started to relax. But the time Naruto had him mostly clean he was falling asleep in the warm water.

"Don't you have any medical supplies?" Shizune asked as she started to unwrap the foot. Kakashi whimpered in his sleep.

"Why would I need Medical supplies? The demon fox in me heals every thing." Naruto grunted, tried and in no mood to temper his words. Though he felt a wave of unease roll through him. In the past just mere thought of the fox sent most women running. For a moment he was afraid Shizune was like most women.

Shizune had all but unwrapped the foot when she looked up. "Oh, right, sorry, I forgot." She smiled gently, an honest smile. "I have a first aid kit I keep with me. I'll give it to you so you can have one on hand. You'll probably need it."

Naruto manage his own smile, a touch relived. Shizune knew him as Naruto, not as the jinchiriki. Besides that Shizune had more to worry about as the Hokage's personal aid than the healing properties of a killer tailed beast. "You sure?" He asked, suddenly feeling guilty for being blunt.

She nodded. "I have access to plenty of kits, you know, and you need one."

"True."

Kakashi whimpered again and woke up. "Daddy?"

Naruto swallowed hard. Just as he had been drying the tot off after the bath Kakashi had asked for his father again. It was a weak, sickly, plea that hurt to hear. Before Naruto was able to come up with an answer to the reques Kakashi had fallen asleep while propped up against his arm.

Now Naruto knelt and brushed some of the fluffy sliver hair out of his eyes. "Your dad is away on a mission. You get to stay with me."

Kakashi was still undressed from the bath earlier. Among the essentials like pants and shoes he was also still missing his mask. His lower lip jutted out and he turned his head away in helpless defiance. It was a rejection, plane and simple, but Naruto could not find it with in him self to feel spurned. Instead he backed off a little and turned his attention to Shizune.

"Is his foot OK?"

She nodded. "The blade went all the way through, but didn't his any thing important."

Naruto blinked. "All the way through?" In truth it had been so bloody he hadn't seen how extensive the damage was.

"Yes. It's lucky his bones weren't snapped or broken." She looked up at him. "How did it happen?"

"He got a hold of a Kunai. . . and. . . pried the window open. I was in the kitchen. . . I didn't know he would be that clever." Naruto stammered.

Her frown showed her worry and disappointment. "You have to keep an eye on little children at all times."

He opened his mouth, but found words were slow to come. "I. . . He was asleep. . ."

She looked back at the sullen boy. "Just remember this for next time."

It was a reprimand and, to Naruto, an unfair one. How was he supposed to know these things? Naruto grit his teeth to keep him self from venting. Think first.

He let his breath out slowly and clenched his fists. "His foot will be OK?"

"It'll be fine." She pulled a medical kit out of her pocket and opened it. "How did he get a hold of the Kunai?"

Naruto glanced around. The weapons were stashed in a number of places. Some in the kitchen where he liked to sharpen them, and some in the living room near the door. The very old ones that he was fond of after they had served well in a battle, but were no longer field worthy, were kept in a special place under his bed in the bead room. He had to focus very hard not to snap out a sarcastic remark. "I'm not entirely sure." It was honest and just a bit curt.

"Well see to it they are all placed out of reach." She started wrapping the foot proper.

Naruto bit his lower lip and focused on breathing rather than yelling like he wanted to do. It wouldn't do any one any good any way. "Right, yes, I will do that very thing." He ground out instead.

She finished and stood, one hand one her hip, the other loosely holding the medical kit. "I have new orders for you from Lady Tsunade."

Naruto swallowed the anger that was bubbling up and turned his attention on her. Orders. . . they could only be about Kakashi. "What are they?"

"Lady Tsunade has created a cover up declaring Kakashi out on a mission of unknown length, to a far off country to keep any one who is watching for him from knowing what has happened."

Naruto nodded. "Makes sense, I suppose, but how is that going to affect what I do?"

She smiled that big fake smile of her's. "Well that means you can't let any one in the village see him, of course."

It took a slow moment for the implications of her words to sink in, but when they did Naruto's new found 'think first' mantra slipped. He growled, voice just below normal level. "Are you telling me that I'm stuck in side my apartment with him until this wears off?"

Still smiling the face smile she chuckled nervously. "Well, yes. . ."

"I have to find Sasuke!" He snapped, shouting this time. Kakashi jumped from the sudden yell and started to cry again. Shizune's fake smile vanished.

"I can't help it Naruto, that's just what has to be done!" She bent over and started to sooth the little silver haired ninja.

"Yes, you can, you can take _him_ off my hands! I have better things to do than baby sit!" He snarled.

Shizune's eyes darted up to him, sorry now, weary. "He needs you."

Naruto swallowed a come back and drew his attention to the trembling boy. A flicker of him self, years ago, sitting alone in the street and crying in a very similar way, floated up from his long ago memories. He turned away, all to keenly aware of what Kakashi was feeling right then.

"Naruto?"

"I. . . I don't know how to do this."

There was a long moment where the only sound was Kakashi's sobs and little, soul crushing, requests for his father. Naruto closed his eyes. "How can I help him when no one helped me?"

He felt Shizune's hand on his shoulder. "Have the clones you made read those books, that will be a good start. Then just. . . be patient. He's hurt, he's scared, and he's all alone."

Naruto nodded slowly. "At least I can understand that." He looked up at her. She was holding Kakashi with the arm that wasn't on his shoulder. Feeling a new wash of regret he turned to face the little sensei. "I'm sorry."

Shizune let his shoulder go and handed Kakashi over. At first the little exhausted bundle tried to flee, but he ran out of wenergy quickly and slumped, whimpering, against Naruto's chest. Naruto wrapped his arms around him and, only half awair of his actions, started to rock the boy back and forth. "I didn't mean it. I don't want to hurt you, OK? I don't want you to be scared of me. I just want all of this to go away."

Kakashi whimpered and it almost sounded like an agreement.

"I brought some things." Shizune said, waving towards the bags she had set down. "Diapers, some children's books, a stuffed animal..." She stepped up to the bags and opened them. "Do you now how to change a diaper?"

"Um. . ." Naruto sighed and shook his head. "Not part of Ninja training."

"Well, it's not hard." She waved him over. "I'll show you how to put one on."

Naruto looked down at the half asleep baby and ran his fingers through the tuft of silver hair. "I guess that's some thing on the 'must do' list."

"Oh, yes. A very big must do." She motioned for him again. "Come on, you can't afort to feel embarrassed about this now."

Naruto nodded, knowing that she was right, yet unable to shake the odd twisting in his stomach about it all. Kakashi had been a masked enigma for as long as Naruto had known him and this seemed to go so hard against the grain that it almost left him cringing.

"He'll never remember any of this." Shizune added.

"You sure?"

She smiled, a real smile, and nodded. "Do you remember your diaper days?"

Naruto shook his head 'no'. Hesitantly he brought the little bundle over and set him down on the table. Kakashi jutted his lower lip out in a pout.

"No!" He tried to roll away. Naruto set his hand softly down on the still overly hot chest.

"Hold still Kakashi-sens. . . Kakashi." The little one was far from being a teacher at this moment.

Shizune grabbed his little kicking feet and quickly wrapped him before he could get away. "Now, don't you feel better? Less cold?" She asked sweetly.

The glare she got from Kakashi was so vicious that Naruto couldn't help but laugh. "I don't think he thinks it feels better."

"No. . . No I don't think he does." She let his feet go and instantly he tried to wriggle out of the diaper.

"Oh, you'll have a fit over the mask, but you want the world to see your ass?" Naruto asked, scooping him up. "You must read to much of Jiraya-sensei's drivel."

Kakashi tried to free him self, but like before the struggle was short lived. He slumped, panting, and closed his eyes with a shiver.

"His fever should go away by morning." Shizune said, now reaching back in to the bag. "He'll feel better then, and be less moody."

"I hope so." Naruto was rocking him again. "What if it doesn't?"

"I'll be back to check up on you both. If it hasn't gone by then I'll give him some medicine. Till then try to get him to rest."

"OK."

She held out a book with corners that were chewed to bits. "This was mine from when I was little. All you have to do is read it to him."

Naruto shifted Kakashi to one arm and took the book with his other. Wearily he scanned the cover. "My Piggy Is In The Pen?" He felt one eyebrow lift and he tried to comprehend just how this book was supposed to be of any use to a future ninja.

Shizune laughed. "It's a bed time story! Didn't you ever. . ." She stopped her self and then looked a little sad again. "Oh, well, um. . ." Nervously she rubbed the back of her neck. "It sooths kids to hear stories, even if they are silly, especially if they are silly. It's comforting."

Naruto eyes the book slowly. "It looks silly all right."

"Just read it out loud to him. I have others in the sack as well."

Naruto folded the book under his arm and re-embraced Kakashi. "OK. . . If you think it's a good idea."

"It is. Once your clones absorb the info in the books and give it to you you'll understand why. At least I hope you will." She stepped away from the table and towards the door. "Any way, I should go, I still have a lot of work to do before my day is done."

Naruto tried to smile. "Thanks."

"It'll be over before you know it, you know, so please, try to enjoy this time with him."

"Enjoy it?" He looked down, almost incredulous. "I don't see what could be so enjoyable about this."

"You will, and then just like that, it'll be gone." She opened the door. "Read to him tonight. Then tomorrow it'll be different."

"I will."

She gave him a smile and he couldn't tell if it was fake or not. "See you in the morning." She slipped out and closed the door behind her.

Naruto, still rocking Kakashi, sank in to the couch, the book still under his arm. He sat in silence, staring at the four walls of the room, and sighed. "I sure hope you grow up fast."

Kakashi whimpered a little and fisted some of Naruto's shirt.

"I know. This isn't your fault."

Little brown eyes turned up and for the first time weren't completely terrified, shocked, or filled with pain. Naruto managed a little smile at their sudden innocence. They darted back down again and Kakashi reached out to finger the book's spine.

"Bright, isn't it?"

Kakashi huffed and looked back up.

"Well, I don't know what sort of lesson this is supposed to teach, but here it goes. . ." Naruto pulled the book from his arm and opened it. The first page was mostly one big picture of a farm yard with a fat little pig in a very big empty pen.

"The little pig was in his pen. . ."

Kakashi settled in and sighed, sickly and hot, but no longer fighting.

"The pen was very big, but the pig was all alone. . ."


	8. Tears For Coffee

I've had this chapter 'done' for a little while now, but I just wasn't sure I wanted to post it. Now I don't remember why. I THINK it had some thing to do with a plot continuity error?

Oh well, its been so long that I only remember the BIG future events any way, So I did a quick beta read, fixed it up, gave it an ending proper, and. . . well. . .

Enjoy.

P.S. If you see any italicized words all scrunched together it's some sort of formatting error. Let me know about where the error is and I''l fix it.

* * *

**Tears for Coffee**

Regret and frustration gathered in the air over the next day and a half, like storm clouds darkening on the horizon. Naruto's normally neat and orderly apartment had become so messy, and so dirty, that he was loath to be in it. In his tired eyes the walls crawled and the floor oozed. Bedding was in heaps all over the bedroom, and the sofa looked as if it had exploded. Empty food containers were strewn about like dead leaves after a snow melt – trampled and filthy- and were interwoven with the cushions and blankets and pillows. Adding even more filth to the destruction were grimly little hand prints on every surface where Kakashi could reach. On top of it all, lingering like a thick fog, was the rancid sent of sour milk.

Naruto had tried to be patient and he had tried to think first, but the walls were closing in and Kakashi would. Not. _Stop.__**Crying**_.

His foot hurt, Naruto knew, and he missed his father. Every other word was a pleading whimper for the dead man's return. Naruto couldn't bring him self to keep promising Kakashi that he'd see his father again. He couldn't make a promise he couldn't keep - it went against every moral he'd ever built up - but he couldn't bring him self to telling the distraught child that his father was gone either.

It left Kakashi distrustful, and clever as he was, his mistrust had lead to a number of escape attempts despite the disaster with the window. With every escape attempt Naruto found him self feeling more and more trapped him self. By the end of the second night he was reacting in an ever harsher manner to keep his charge from escaping.

At the moment, as Naruto sat with his head in his hands at the kitchen table, he could hear Kakashi sobbing from where he'd been locked in the bed room. Locked like a criminal who'd tried to dig his way out of prison.

Locked in solitary confinement.

_It's __for __his __own__ good_. Naruto closed his eyes and tried to ignore the terrible cries. _I__ can't__ let__ him __go __out__ where __he'll __get __hurt_. _I__ have _orders.

Orders or no, he could feel his sanity slipping with every distraught sob. Naruto hurt for his teacher, and understood the crushing pain of loneliness, but Kakashi was LOUD. What was more he was tireless in his infantile expressions of fear and anger. Every time his escape attempt had been thwarted he made a point to scream even louder than he'd done the time before. Naruto was worried at some point Kakashi would go horse, but now, after a second sleepless night, he could honestly say that would be a good thing.

And that only made him feel worse.

Having been locked in the bedroom Kakashi was brining his vocal prowess to a whole new level. From where he was sitting Naruto could almost feel the floorboards shaking with each scream. He dug his nails in to his scalp as he pressed his palms to his ears.

He'd read the books Shizune had brought, but after being awake for nearly three days his mind couldn't latch on to any one lesson they were supposed to teach. Along with that information he had several days worth of clone information trying to find a place to settle some where in his mind. He'd faithfully stuck to only releasing one clone at a time every twenty four hours, but they were clumsy and accident prone. Out of the twenty he'd made, nearly half had found a way to harm them selves enough to release on their own, sending wave after wave of utterly useless information flooding in. Every time it happened Naruto's mind was drowned with knowledge he hadn't been expecting. Now he was floundering, sinking so far down he knew he'd perish under the waves if he didn't find a way back to the surface.

It HURT! His head was throbbing constantly. The screams were only adding to the agony.

_I __can't __do__ this._ He gripped his pounding head tighter. _I __have __to __do__ this,__it's __my __fault._ Guilt washed in, but ebbed just as quickly when some thing hit the bedroom door. Kakashi howled. Some thing hit the door again.

Naruto let go of his head and turned. The door was once more pounded from a low place. Kakashi was now literally kicking and screaming.

While gripping the table till his knuckles turned white Naruto shouted, "Knock it off!"

There was a moment of silence, then the sobbing started up again. A flicker of anger laced it's way through Naruto's mind, accompanied by flicker of fox fire red. Breathing heavy slow snorts, Naruto closed his eyes and tried to calm him self. The red only brightened, however, and for a moment he leaned in to it's warmth, exhausted.

_Hands on a small young spine. Gripping. Pressure points. Easy, soft, quick. Painless. Silent. **Silence**._

His eyes snapped open as his heart thundered in sudden fear. "I'm loosing it." He stood, shaken by the violent whispers that had formed in his mind, and made his way towards the door numbly. "I can't do this. I'll kill him." Trembling hands gripped the knob and he stopped.

Kakashi was still sobbing. Still a child. Still helpless.

Naruto closed his eyes again and rested his head on the door. "I'm sorry." He whispered.

For several minutes he stood, letting the cold wood chill the heat from his head. Kakashi's voice slowed and quieted to little keening whimpers.

"I'm sorry. I'm so. . ."

A clone slammed the front door open and bounced in, grinning like a fool. It looked around the apartment for a moment after that, then frowned. "Wow, it's gotten way worse in hear since this morning!"

Naruto shoved off of the bedroom door. "What do you want?" He asked bluntly, not in any mood to accommodate _himself_.

"Ah, well, see. . ." It rubbed the back of it's head and grinned again. "Sakura told me to go bother some one else, and the other clones already found some one to talk to. . . Guy, Shikamaru and Choji, Ino, even Hinata has a clone near her. . . boy she's weird. . . any way I couldn't find any body so. . ." It grinned even wider. "Maybe I could hang out here?"

Naruto blinked again feeling just a little odd inside to have a clone asking for his company. "Uh. . ."

"I'll mop!" It announced suddenly, and trotted off to the kitchen.

Naruto stared after it, some what bewildered, as it started to rummage through the cleaning supplies. Kakashi meanwhile, having heard the exuberant clone's voice, started to cry loudly again.

"Boy he sure does holler a lot. Does he cry constantly? I mean, since this morning?" The clone pulled the mop free and swung it around. "I know he's been crying constantly for the last few days, you know, when another clone goes poof. . ." It pulled the bucket out. "Oh hey, look, you are out of raman!" The clone pouted violently and folded it's arms. "It's noisy in here."

Naruto slumped against the bedroom door. _It's__ brainless.__ My__ clone __is__ brainless.__ Sakura __is __going __to __kill __me __after__ having__ that __thing.__.__._

The clone's voice pierced his thoughts, "He sure does cry a _lot_!"

"Yes. He does." Naruto managed, while rubbing his aching temples.

"Kind of makes you hate kids." The clone started to fill the bucket.

"I wish I knew how Iruka sensei does it. He LIKES kids." Naruto mumbled. _I'm __talking __to__ my__self,__ clone,__ self.__.__.__ what__ever.__ I_ have_ lost__ it._

With a bucket full of water in one hand, and the mop in the other, the clone strode in to the living room. "Hmmm... How am I going to mop with all of this stuff on the floor?" Kakashi's screams were reaching a fevered pitch once more. "Maybe I should start with dusting."

Once more the door behind Naruto was kicked. Kakashi shrieked.

"Or do I start with the dishes?"

"I need help." Naruto slid down to the floor and pressed his hands in to his eyes.

"I _am_ helping!" The clone protested, frowning. "Just. . . tell me what to do!"

"Be smarter. Tell me how Iruka handles these. . ." The door was kicked hard just behind his pounding head, causing his hands to bounce away from his face, ". . . monsters!"

The clone frowned an even more ugly frown. "I'm smart!" It thrust the mop out towards Naruto's head. "I'm as smart as you!"

A bubbling, half hysterical, laugh erupted up through the cracks in his emotional shields. "You. . ." Naruto rolled his head to the side and looked up at the clone grumpily standing over him. ". . . no."

"What?" it demanded, and swung the mop once more, this time towards it's self. "I'm you, just. . . you from two days ago!"

"Three." Naruto corrected, his shaky laugh dieing down a little. "You can't even count!"

The clone took a breath as if to argue and took a menacing step forward. Before it could complete the move, however, the mop caught on the table and the clone was yanked backwards. It dropped the bucket, sending water every where, and slammed down head first in to a chair. Smoke and mist erupted as water rained down.

Blinding, explosive, pain erupted behind Naruto's eyes and he cried out. The flood of random moments in the clone's three day existance was an avalanche of disconnected conversations, text from medical books, and a whole volley of madding confusion over the most simple and mundane things in life. Naruto curled up on him self as Kakashi's startled yelp echoed through his skull. He cradled his head between his elbows, shivering, spent.

For several minutes he laid there, unable to move, feeling nausea and despair surge and settle like the tides. A knock from the front door sounded out just as the world was starting to go black on him. The pounding was to heavy to be Shizune's light rapping, but to soft to be Sakura's usual angry arrival. It was more like how Kakashi would knock, but much more demanding sounding.

The clones just came in as they pleased. Not one had knocked.

Naruto lifted his head and blinked blearily, feeling weak and shaky. "Who. . ."

"Naruto!" A man's voice, Naruto noted, called out. It was familiar. "Naruto, I'm coming in!"

He licked dry lips and uncurled him self. Before he could move much further the door swung open. Standing tall in a green vest, a man with a scar over his nose and impossibly soft worried brown eyes hurried in.

"Naruto!" the man knelt and scooped him up.

"Iruka?" Naruto blinked. "How. . ." Movement from the still open door caught his eyes and he looked to see two clones waving and grinning.

"We got Iruka for you!" One announced so loudly it drove a spike of pain in to Naruto's skull.

The other bounced on it's toes. "You can't call _US_ dumb!"

Iruka turned and smiled at them. "Why don't you guys go find some other people to help now. Smart as you guys are you can see the apartment is to small for a lot of. . . bodies. . ."

"OI!" They cried and saluted, then turned and marched off.

Naruto slumped. Keening squeaks were drifting out from the bedroom, hollow and breathy. "You shouldn't be here." He looked up in to the brown eyes. "Your not supposed to be. . ."

"I read the Hokage's reports, Naruto, I know what happened," he said gently, cutting him off. "Are you OK?"

Naruto hung his head a little. The feverish laugh from before threatened to come back, though all he felt was the suffocating walls pressing in, and the cries clawing at his mind like kunai. He took a shaking giddy breath, to drained to properly loose it any more. "I need to get out of here." He gripped his temples and closed his eyes. "I can't stand this any more."

…...

Information never sat still long with in the paper filing room, and even if the subject was forbidden or top secret, with in an hour every paper worker in Konoha had some new gossip about some one's mission, or a border threat or the latest newly discovered forbidden jutsu. That is how Iruka came to hear of three rumors all centering around The Copy cat ninja, Kakashi. He dismissed quickly and easily the first rumor that the silver haired ninja had been killed. Nonsense, that one, and an oft repeated rumor. Iruka was sure Naruto would have come home and torn the place asunder in grief were that true. The blond did not cope well with death.

The second rumor was almost as absurd. Every one in the file room knew full well that the Son of the White Fang had been granted permission to try and talk his father's teacher in to backing off of his aggressive, and increasingly more assertive, threats towards the village and the Hokage, and Iruka knew personally that the Copy Cat would not abandon the mission unless the village it's self was in grave danger. So when he heard that Kakashi had been sent to track down a mysterious stranger to the west who had robbed a wealthy merchant his mind had instantly cried out '_cover__up_'.

It was a communal pet peeve of nearly every paper worker that a cover up story made on the fly should take in to account the real missions an individual had been going on, else the stories spun were horrifically obvious to even the most dim witted office worker. Iruka especially hated such fabrications, not only because they were so glaringly obvious in the fact that they were lies, but not one of them ever seemed to fit the person assigned the mission. To Iruka the Hokage could well have just painted a sign on the wall's main doors announcing that 'bad juju was happening to ninja X' and hand out maps with targets painted on them for visual aid and assassination accuracy.

He had to wait almost 24 hours before the real story finally filtered through to be filed, and when it did he had to fight off one of the larger paper workers to get the chance to read it first. The taller man had been difficult to grapple with, but a quick grab of the salt shaker and a robust threat to dump it's contents in to the Coffee pot gave Iruka the leverage he'd needed. His taller co-worker handed over the report instantly and darted over to protect the morning brew.

Field ninja ran on duty and adrenalin. Office ninja ran on caffeine. Iruka had not gotten this far up in the indoor ranks with out knowing where his team's weak points were. Triumphant he settled in to his chair to relax and find out what had really happened. Iruka had only a little of the cup he had pored for him self, before his eyes took in the short report.

He had to read it a number of times, slowly, to let the information sink in.

"What is it?" His taller companion had asked, looking up with worry. "Don't tell me some one was hurt. Or worse."

Iruka could only shake his head then and stare at the papers in shock. It took a while, but when the information finally settled he found his stomach churning, making the coffee no longer an item of interest, let alone vital sustenance. He folded the report and tucked it under his arm, then excused him self. He needed to talk to the Hokage this time, to make sure every thing was true.

He had needed to know for him self if the man who was in charge of _his_ Naruto was now a helpless child him self. The very thought of it had made his mind numb and his fingers itch. When the Hokage confirmed the report, and elaborated on what was to happen next, Iruka could not think of any thing but the Copy Cat ninja from that point on. The Hokage forbade him to draw any attention to the situation for the time being, as Kakashi was very vulnerable now, and this situation needed to remain secret.

That order twisted Iruka's soul as his mind leaped even further towards all that could go wrong with Naruto trying to baby sit a child that had been renowned for his brilliance, and chillingly ruthless in his actions, even as an infant.

Iruka had hoped the classroom would be a good distraction, but even their his eyes caught glimpses of silver hair and mismatched eyes in the corners and shadows, and in the faces of his more troubled students he saw glimmers of war pain. Kakashi was now even younger than his charges; helpless and alone with a short tempered teenager who was the container for the world's most evil force.

Every paper worker knew the histories of every ninja in the Village. Every orphan grown up knew the pain of a child who'd lost his parents. Iruka could not pull his scattered thoughts together long enough to think of any thing else but Kakashi and Naruto and how he was not to aid them. Deep inside Iruka was slowly burning up as he thought about how Naruto would need help from some one, any one, who knew children. And knew what sort of pain they would be in, but the Hokage had been clear.

It wasn't _just_because she didn't want attention drawn to Kakashi after all, it was because Iruka knew things. She had speculated that Kakashi's mind still held all of it's information, according to her research, and that if a memory was triggered to soon it could have dire consequences. Kakashi could go insane, or possibly die.

Paper workers knew histories, yes, but they also knew how to keep secrets too. What good would they be if the couldn't? It was like asking the sun not to set for the night so people wouldn't be shrouded in darkness.

The whole scenario was slowly digging in to his mind, twisting the knife as it were, and he found him self planning to visit Naruto as soon as class was out, orders or no. His parental instinct was crying out for action, muffling his sworn loyalty to the leaders of his world. Having made his mind up he took on the task of teaching his students with new vigor. The class, he was sure, would pass quickly. When two clones came bursting in to the class room, however, Iruka simply gave up fighting his parental instincts and dismissed class for the rest of the day.

They were frantic, babbling at once, and giving him all sorts of information he wasn't sure was relevant. Books they had read, and medical procedures that were new, as well as a whole library's worth of forbidden jutsu knowledge. Underlying all of that talk, however, was the needy, desperate plea for help.

"Naruto's going to loose control!" One nearly shouted.

"He's really scary, Iruka-sensei!" The other cried. And so it went all the way to the apartment. Iruka's parental instinct shouted out for him to hurry, but he kept him self at a deliberate pace, making sure to look as casual as any teacher with twin demon clone containers rambling at his sides could look.

Maybe, he had mused, he ought to be the one handing out maps at the gate.

The clones were becoming even more clingy and frantic the closer they got to the rag tag apartment and Iruka had to use all of his formal training not to let their negatively buzzing energy unbalance him. He hushed his nagging instincts and forced him self to envision the most likely sinario which was. . .

He had no idea, actually, and that left the door open for all sorts of mental images all involving blood and two fighting members of Team seven. Toddler or not Kakashi was a true shinobi, born and raised in every sense. The Copy Cat had killed a man at the age of four, and that required a very special set of inborn determination, skill and an unflinching constitution.

Or, possibly, desperation. He had been born during a war, born to the White Fang, after all. Tsunade's words of warning were still ringing in his ears, even as he ascended the steps, knocked, and called out.

"This isn't good!" One clone blurted.

"He should be answering, try again!" The other kneaded the air helplessly.

Worry doubled and Iruka silently agreed with his blond captors. "Naruto!" There was no answer, and that left the two clones close to pure panic.

"We'd know if he was dead, right?" One cried.

"We'd be dead too!" The other wailed.

"I don't WANT to die!" The first one looked up at Iruka, cheeks stained with real tears. "I've got so much to LIVE for!"

"You aren't alive." Iruka blinked. The clone stared back at him, mutely, before turning back to the door with a blank expression.

"Oh, right, I forgot."

Iruak glanced at them both, wondering just how long they had been running about. More pressing was the question of why Naruto wasn't answering. "Naruto, I'm coming in!" And that was it. There was no turning back, no orders to bar him from his own child.

He opened the door, dreading what he would find on the other side, and saw to his every conceivable horror that Naruto was crumpled on the floor looking up dazed and pale. Iruka abandoned all his militant training and rushed in, no longer a paper worker, a Teacher, or even a shinobi, but a father. "Naruto!" He scooped the blond up and held him close, checking for any obvious signs of injury.

"Iruka?" Naruto blinked slowly, blue eyes focusing only after some obvious effort. "How. . ."

"We got Iruka for you!" The first clone shouted, beaming.

The other bounced on it's toes. "You can't call US dumb!" Iruka had to bite down on a worry fueled sarcastic reply to that. Instead he forced him self to smile.

"Why don't you guys go find some other people to help now. Smart as you guys are you can see the apartment is to small for a lot of. . . bodies. . ."

"OI!" They cried and saluted, then turned and marched off.

Naruto sagged against him, his breathing unsteady and pained. "You shouldn't be here." He looked up with worry saturating his liquid blue eyes. "Your not supposed to be. . ."

"I read the Hokage's report, Naruto, I know what happened." Iruka said, cutting him off quickly. Now was not the time for orders, just reactions. "Are you OK?" Tsunade could jump out a window, fr all he cared at the moment.

Naruto hung his head a little and shuddered. "I need to get out of here." He gripped his temples and closed his eyes in pain. "I can't stand this any more."

"What's wrong?"

"The clones. I've had them out there for so long they over load me when I release them. I haven't slept. . . I. . ." He shivered again.

In the silence that stretched out Iruka heard a squeak. He turned and looked towards the closed up bedroom and felt a whole new roll of worry. "How long were you unconscious here?"

Naruto eyes rolled a little, still not focusing completely, as he thought. "I don't know." He admitted. "But it couldn't have been that long. . ." He suddenly winced, full body, and gasped. "Danm Clones!" His eyes filled with pained tears. "My head is going to split in two." He writhed weakly for a moment, holding his air in tightly, before going lax with a rough sigh.

From the Bedroom the little squeaks were getting louder. "Is that Kakashi?"

Narito nodded against the inside of his elbow. "Had to put him in there. He's a _monster_, Iruka. Nothing I do or say seems to have any effect on him." Weary blue eyes looked up, milky with exhaustion. "He keeps trying to get away. He CAN'T. I can't let him. But he's a _monster_!"

Monster. Coming from the Jinchuriki it was a verbal slap. A jab that struck with anger and repulsion. Weary as Naruto was Iruka knew the blond teen would not use the word casually, no matter how irritated he was. True anger was boiling just behind the lack luster eyes.

The anger of a _real_ monster.

A prickle if fear traced Iruka's spine and he had to hold him self still so he wouldn't back away. Fox rage. He'd never forget the way it felt, even if only in traces thinner than a hair. Deliberately he took a calming breath and and pulled Naruto in to a sitting position. The Teen offered no aid, but also no resistance.

"You haven't hurt him, have you?" He managed past numb lips.

Naruto stiffened in the half embrace and cast pained, cloudy eyes his way. "How could you even _ask_ me that?" His voice was low, husky.

"Because. . ." Iruka glanced away from those eyes. "I've read the report of what happened to Jiraya. . ."

Naruto hissed and pulled away violently. Milky blue darkened to a rough stormy sea color and he stalked off to the sofa where he leaned against the arm. Iruak stood and kneaded his knuckles. He could hear the soft cry from the bedroom. The soft, sourced out weeping of a child who's world was dissolving. Making sure of his voice he asked again. "Have you hurt him?"

Naruto looked back with a mix of guilt and anger. "I don't want to hurt him. This is my fault, all my fault." Tears sprung up again and instantly Iruka's fear melted in to compassion. He strode forward and loped an arm over Naruto's slightly trembling shoulders.

"This is NOT your fault. It's that old man's fault, and you _KNOW_ it." He gave Naruto a small squeeze. "You just don't feel it."

Naruto gazed up with heavy lidded eyes. "But. . ."

"You are _out __of__ your __mind_ tired, stressed beyond your capacity to reasonably function, and you have no experience with children. I know you would never hurt Kakashi, not willingly, but you also know how you are when you get worked up."

Pain filtered in to Naruto's eyes. "It's not my fault! I didn't ask for the Fox"

"I know." Iruka pulled him close and felt Naruto cling. The teen was still only a child, really, and this was far to much for him. Especially if you factored in the clones and the guilt all on top of watching over the legend. Iruka cursed the Hokage silently.

"I can't do this."

"I know." Iruka guided him down to a tilted sofa cushion and knelt before him. "I'm here to help, no matter what the Hokage has ordered, she doesn't know you like I do."

Naruto scrubbed at the corner of his eye. "You can't. Her orders. . ."

Iruka bit down a wave of his own anger. "Do you think you need my help or not?"

It took a moment, but Naruto nodded 'yes'. "I can't do this. I can't!"

"Then I will deal with Tsunade when the time comes. Until then I'm here for you. I promise."

Naruto gazed at him for a long moment, before burying his head in his hands. Shakily his voice filters out. "Th-thank you."

Iruka pulled him close for a moment, then glanced back at the door. He was here for Naruto, but it dawned on him it wasn't only Naruto who need help. Resigned to his self appointed mission Iruka let Naruto go and stepped up to the door.

The _truth_ was waiting for him, angry and screaming. With a calming breath he pushed the door open, then gasped.


End file.
